Just Following Orders
by ShadowedNara
Summary: AU. Naruto is told along with his cousin Kushina to leave Uzushio and go to Konoha. He's got absolutely no idea why but finds out soon enough that she's going to become a jinchūriki!
1. Prologue

_**Hey guys, it's me again. No I'm not dead, and no, neither are my other stories, but I am swamped with Uni work and studies... I shouldn't even be here again so soon, but an idea's been bugging me for sometime now so I thought I'd just throw it out there to test the waters and see if it came back with any decent results. Depending on how you guys receive it, I'll try my best to try write some more on it once I get time again.**_

 _ **Let me know what you guys think, I won't keep you any longer...**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Prologue_**

 _And so it Begins..._

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

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 _Uzu no Kuni, the beautiful island-home to one of the most feared hidden shinobi villages to grace the face of the Elemental Nations – Uzushiogakure no Sato, home to the famed Uzumaki clan and renowned for their longevity and prowess in the obscure and very much unknown art of fūinjutsu. Or maybe famed is the wrong word. They were more infamously well-known and feared for their awesome abilities with fūinjutsu_ _than anything else_ _._

 _Their skill with the art was second to none; they could accomplish nearly anything imaginable using t_ _he_ _inexplicable art. It was this unmatch_ _ed_ _prowess with fūinjutsu that gave Uzushio its rise to fame; or rather, infamy._

 _They were for the most part given a rather wide berth due to their abstruse abilities_ _. N_ _obody wanted to be on the receiving end of whatever the feared shinobi of Uzushiogakure could cook up._

 _The_ _y were not alienated by all however. The_ _Uzumaki's were fairly close with their distant relatives the Senju's, and during the time of the Shodai Hokage Senju Hashirama's reign, a strong bond and relationship had been_ _created through the marriage of Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito_ _, thereby forever connecting the villages of Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure_ _._

 _It was from then on decided that the Uzumaki swirl would be incorporated into the Konohagakure shinobi uniform as a symbol of their bond and friendship, and it was from then on decided that Uzushio would forever be etched into Konoha's history..._

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 _Somewhere in Uzu no Kuni_ _..._

* * *

'Come on you damned octopus, you'd better not die on me! I've come too far to have to turn around and start from the beginning!'

Kneeling beside a whirring body of water was a no-older-than-eight boy with shaggy spiky red hair and jaw length bangs framing the side of his face. He was wearing a rust-coloured polo neck poncho over a long sleeved black shirt with mesh undershirt extending out his sleeves and to his wrists. He had on a pair of black capri trousers that were tied off at the ends with bandages, and a pair of greaves over his shins with black shinobi sandals.

His eyes were narrowed in utmost concentration, beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. Letting out a short pant, the redhead continued pouring all his focus onto the eight tentacled fish beneath his outstretched palms. They were coated in a layer of green medical chakra, and it was taking every ounce of concentration he had to manipulate it in order to revive the asphyxiated cephalopod.

It lay motionless atop a specially designed seal meant to keep the fish from decaying. It was a seal designed specifically for medics in training, and it kept the fish they were 'operating' on in a healthy revivable condition. The fact that it was a seal designed for medics didn't stop fishermen from utilising the seal to keep fresh catches from the ocean as fresh as possible, but that's besides the point.

Octopuses were a lot more difficult to revive as opposed to fish however, their bodies containing three hearts instead of simply one. And while an octopus had a single brain just like any other fish, it also had eight separate nervous systems within each tentacle. All these separate organs had to be stimulated with just the right amount of medical chakra in order to perform a perfect resuscitation.

Gritting his teeth, the redhead continued pouring out his chakra, beads of perspiration rolling off his chin and impacting softly with the ground below. It wasn't too long before his hard work was rewarded, and the tentacles attached to the octopus gingerly began to twitch and sway before the fish was successfully revived.

Slowly wiping his brow clear of the collected sweat, the redhead got to his feet and carefully picked up the octopus, walking over to the giant whirlpool to his left and tossing the octopus back into the ocean whence it came. Taking a deep calming breath, the boy jumped into the air and raised a victorious fist, a broad grin exploding onto his face. "Yes! I finally managed to do it 'ttebayo!"

"Well someone seems in high spirits, 'ey Naruto?" a girl's voice questioned knowingly. The now named Naruto could practically hear the smirk that was on her face, but he simply ignored it and gathered his things that were splayed out all over the grass where he'd been working.

A half opened scroll of blank parchment lay off to the side with a small fūinjutsu kit beside it, a brush lying in an open ink bottle. Pulling his hands into a Ram seal, a small seal array etched itself onto the blank scroll before it was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Naruto turned his head to the new comer as he waited for the smoke to dissipate, throwing her a small grin for her outstanding reading of the situation. "You bet I am! I just resuscitated a freakin' octopus, so go ahead and call me awesome Kushina. I won't deny it."

Kushina just rolled her eyes at her cousin's usual antics. She had a particularly round face with long fiery red hair that naturally framed both sides of her face. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless kimono-styled blouse that was held closed with a green obi, as well as a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals.

She watched as he grabbed the scroll off the floor and strapped it to his back, all his supplies now safely stored within the parchment. "If you're finished here, we've been summoned by Uzumaki-jiji, so we better go see what's up."

Shrugging the scroll on his back, Naruto let out a short breath and waved his hand through the air non-chalantly. "Ah, what's the rush. I'm still a little tired from saving that octopus, so a nice stroll back to the village should be fine—"

A dark aura suddenly filled the area and cut Naruto off midsentence. Slowly glancing ahead at his cousin, he found strands of her hair whipping about her head slowly as if they had minds of their own, her violet eyes narrowed into a sharp glare. "I'm guessing maybe you didn't hear me right, so I'll say it one more time. We've been summoned by Uzumaki-jiji, so I guess we better go see what's up, _right_?"

Naruto gulped audibly as the oppresive aura continued to press down on him, and he shakily nodded his head in agreement. At his acquiesence, his cousin's hair fell back to its usual resting place on her head, and a sweet smile was pasted on her face, the emotion looking more forced than anything. "Perfect! Just keep up then would ya?"

And with that she was off, bounding on back towards the village. Naruto shuddered involuntarily and let out a small sigh as he watched her form disappear in the distance. "Women are so troublesome..."

"What was that?!"

The yell from the distance jerked him into motion, and he darted after his cousin as they headed back to the village. "N-Nothing! I just said I'm on my way 'ttebayo." He shook his head wearily as he raced to catch his cousin. 'Again, I reiterate my previous statement. Women are so troublesome...'

XxX

Being Uzumaki's, the run back into the village had eventually turned into a full on sprint to see who could beat the other in a game of speed. Naruto had had to play a good amount of catch up, Kushina having started slightly ahead of him, but they were now neck and neck once again.

The village itself was something to behold. The entire village was centred around a massive whirlpool, houses and buildings of various shapes and sizes dotted around the whirring body of water. In the centre of the whirlpool was a raised platform that covered just over a third of the entire whirlpool's surface area, but still allowing the water to funnel beneath it. It was fashioned out of dōton ninjutsu and strengthened through the use of fūinjutsu.

All of the village's shinobi related elements could be found on this platform, and it was connected to the main body of land via four separate stone bridges that jutted out every 90 degrees in each direction, similar to the points on a compass.

The two racing redheads' destination also just so happened to be on this platform, and once their finish line came into view the two exploded towards it with renewed vigour. Civilians and shinobi alike were knocked or bumped as the two competitive Uzumaki's vied for first place. As the bridge came into view however, it was plain as day to see that it was just as busy as ever, and crossing it in the conventional manner would most definitely lose them some major ground in their race. Sticking to the sides or the underbelly of the bridge was a no-go as well. Fūinjutsu littered every square centimetre of that bridge, and the only way to cross it was like any other person.

Naruto wasn't planning on using the bridge at all however. Being an Uzumaki, Naruto had a lot more chakra than the average shinobi, even at the age of eight. He'd had to work relentlessly to get his chakra control up to snuff in order to learn medical ninjutsu, and the final exercise had been water walking over a body of water with an active whirlpool.

Walking on water was difficult enough. The continuous movement of the water beneath your feet meant you had to constantly adjust your chakra output in order to stay afloat. That was child's play compared to the whirlpool version of the exercise. The movement of the water was a lot faster, and the continuous pull and strength of the currents as they whirred around was nothing compared to a normal body of water.

Taking all this into account, Naruto ran past the entrance to the bridge and jumped straight down into the water below, letting out a yip of excitement. Kushina's eyes widened as she realised what he was doing, and knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to follow. Sure she could walk on water. She'd had to improve her own chakra control for her brand of ninjutsu, but she hadn't needed to perfect it to the degree that Naruto had to in order to learn medical ninjutsu.

Gritting her teeth, she ran as fast as she could over the bridge just like any other person would, but the amount of oncoming civilians and shinobi were halting and restricting her movements severely. She was going to lose, and she knew it. Blowing a red bang out of her face in annoyance, she carried on running as fast as she could. All she could do now was soften the crushing blow of defeat. 'He's not gonna let me forget this any time soon 'ttebane...'

XxX

Kushina walked as fast she dared now that she was in the building that her and Naruto had been racing to get to. Although all Uzumaki's had a different temperament to other people in the Elemental Nations, and it was more often than not an Uzumaki acting contrary to their age, inside this building was different. This was the building that housed their head shinobi, and it demanded a certain amount of restraint and discipline that was a lot more difficult to comply with for an Uzumaki, not to mention the fact that she was only eight.

She passed by an elderly Uzumaki woman that gave her a small glare for walking fast enough to ruffle the frills of her dress, but Kushina merely stuck her tongue out and pulled her eyelid down childishly. The elderly woman's eyes widened in shock before she glanced around the passage discretely and then mimicked Kushina's childish display, having deemed the hall empty enough to even attempt such a retort.

Kushina huffed irritably as she turned the next corner. 'Damned old hag. What a hypocrite 'ttebane!' She was glad to be away from that old coot, but the sight that greeted her when she turned the corner wasn't really a welcomed one either. An ear-splitting grin courtesy of her cousin was the first thing that caught her eyes, his chest puffed out and his head held just _that_ much higher.

He was standing outside the doors to Uzumaki-jiji's office, quite literally bouncing on his toes. He looked like he could explode any second. Resigned to her fate, the red-haired girl walked up to him and let out a small sigh, her cheeks heating up with the smallest amount of red. "J-Just go ahead and say it 'ttebane!"

His grin only seemed to get wider and his violet-coloured eyes were sparkling with mirth. Lifting up a solitary finger and pointing it at the girl, his body shook a little more as small wheezes escaped his lips, his soft snickering now filling the quiet air. "Y-You... you... you said _'ttebane_ 'ttebayo!"

The girl clenched her fists at her sides and shut her eyes as she fought the urge to let fly with a fist. Her cheeks reddened a little further and her body shook from embarrassment, and her eyes shot open in rage. 'Screw this! He has it coming!' She cocked her fist back and let fly with a haymaker of a punch, her cousin lifting off the ground and ploughing head first through the door they were standing outside of.

After a couple seconds of huffing angrily and admiring her work, her eyes widened as she realised where she flung Naruto, and she dashed in after him. All she found however was her cousin shaking with unbridled laughter, his head using the floor as a cushion and his legs dangling over the top of Uzumaki-jiji's desk.

She glanced over the desk to the person seated behind it only to see the old man's eyes twinkling with amusement. He was an extremely elderly man with long white hair that cascaded down his back, as well as a white moustache and a squared-off goatee. He wore armour that was reminiscent of the Warring States Period with a long-sleeved black outfit beneath that.

Immediately feeling her embarrassment rise, Kushina quickly bowed her head and muttered out a string of apologies, her verbal tic making itself known more than a few times. She raised her head however upon hearing his chuckling, and he held a hand up in apology. "Forgive me child, but there is no need to apologise. It was all just a simple misunderstanding, correct?"

His left eye closed in a wink, and her own eyes widened before she smiled shyly and nodded her head, grabbing Naruto off the floor and pulling him up to stand next to her.

Naruto himself was struggling to contain his own laughter, but he managed to rein it in well enough. It was then that he noted the presence of another person in the room, and his immediate hushing drew all the other eyes to the mysterious occupant.

He looked to be in his late twenties, and he had dark eyes with deep lines running underneath them. He had spiky, silver-coloured hair that reached into the middle of his back tied in a ponytail, with bangs that hung over his hitai-ate. His Konoha hitai-ate. He was wearing the standard Konoha-nin uniform with a pair of gloves and a flak jacket, with bandages on his right arm and a distinctive short white sleeve with red edges and the Uzushio symbol on his left.

A small cough brought their attention back to the elderly Uzumaki sitting behind the desk, and he gestured with his hand to the man standing off to the side. "Naruto-kun, Kushina-chan, allow me to introduce to you Konoha's White Fang."

The man took a step forward and offerred them a kind smile, his left hand coming out while his right rubbed the back of his head softly. "Please, Sakumo is fine Uzumaki-sama."

The elderly Uzumaki just nodded his head before turning back to the two young redheads in front of him, his two hands linked together beneath his long black sleeves. "The reason I have summoned you two here today is because I have a special mission for you." Watching as the two seemed to stand a little straighter, he gestured his head towards the Konoha-nin to his left. "You two are to be transferred to Konohagakure no Sato in order to bolster inter-village relations, effective immediately. Konoha's White Fang here will be your escort back to his home village. Are their any questions?"

Sakumo himself heaved a small sigh hearing that the leader of the Uzumaki's just disregarded his request to be called Sakumo, but he knew that the Uzumaki's were an eccentric bunch, so he wasn't too fazed.

Both eight year olds seemed a little too stunned with the sudden dropping of the bomb however, both having their eyes wide and their mouths slightly agape. Hearing no questions though, the elderly Uzumaki nodded his head and gave them a shooing motion. "Well best hurry up then, you depart immediately, so I expect to see you at the village's harbour within the hour."

Both children were ushered out by an Uzumaki attendant, the two red heads still far too dazed by the information to move on their own. Waiting for the two to leave, the elder Uzumaki turned his attention back to Sakumo. "You said you needed to provide detailed reports on the both of them for Sarutobi-dono?" Seeing the man nod, he continued. "As you know, they are not active shinobi yet, so they have no files. You will have to write up one yourself I guess."

Sakumo nodded and retrieved a scroll from a pocket in his flak jacket, a brush and ink ready and waiting as he gave the signal for the Uzumaki to continue.

"Well, they're both orphans who have been staying together within the orphanage. There aren't many orphans in our village, and the few others that we do have are still in diapers, so Naruto and Kushina had no one else in their age group but themselves. Both lost their parents when they were far too young to remember, so they've never known the alternative."

Seeing that the man was diligently writing down each word he said, the man stood up from his seat and began pacing his office as he continued. "Their abilities in the ninja arts thus far are exceptional. Both are highly adept at fūinjutsu and have been taught sufficiently in the art for any Uzumaki their age. Kushina is quite proficient in kenjutsu as well, and she has an extremely powerful chakra, even among our clansmen. This gives her the ability to wield her special brand of ninjutsu which allows her to manifest chakra chains. She is nowhere near mastery though, but given due time I believe she can can gain control of them."

"And what of the other, Naruto?" questioned Sakumo, his eyes still glued to the scroll as his hands moved in a flurry of motion to keep up with the speaking Uzumaki.

Humming softly, the old Uzumaki linked his hands beneath his sleeves and continued pacing. "Naruto himself is also highly intelligent, and he is just as proficient with fūinjutsu as Kushina. He also has an extremely powerful chakra for someone among our clan, and his is another special case."

This gave the silver-haired Hatake pause. "Special in the sense that he can manifest these 'chakra chains'?"

The head shinobi of the Uzumaki shook his head softly. "He possesses a special ability known as the Heal Bite. By biting him and consuming his chakra, he can heal the injuries of others and replenish their chakra at the cost of his own. It is quite remarkable, and it can heal even the most life threatening of injuries in a very short amount of time. This among other things has lead him down the path of medical ninjutsu. He knows that his parents died on the battlefield, but more specifically they died after bleeding out and not receiving medical attention fast enough. They were rushed back to the village as fast as possible, but by the time they got here it was already too late. This motivation has propelled him leaps and bounds in the medical arts, and he is already somewhat proficient with the Shōsen jutsu the last I heard."

When the Uzumaki halted in his speaking for more than a minute, Sakumo looked up only to find the man simply sitting behind his desk with his eyes closed and a cup of tea now held in his hands, the steam coming off the top signifying it had just been made. 'When did he have time to get himself a cup of tea?'

The question died on his throat however as the old Uzumaki cracked open a single eye and looked at him in confusion. "As much as I enjoy the company of Konoha's White Fang, what are you still doing here? If I'm not mistaken, you have somewhere to be, correct?"

The Hatake was somewhat taken aback before he realised that they had been speaking for close to an hour. Quickly replacing the scroll in his vest and bowing to the man, he exited the room and sped off to the harbour where his boat awaited. It was time to head on home.

* * *

 _ **Okay guys, that wraps up the prologue of this short intro into a story that could be, depending on your review of it. Did you find it any good? Is the idea interesting enough that you wanna maybe favourite, follow and possibly leave a review for further ideas you might like to see if this story comes to fruition? I'm also not too sure how good the title and summary are, so any help with that would be appreciated!**_

 _ **I'll give a few short explanations about a few things here quickly just to straighten things out. Naruto is born roughly about 24 years before the canon Kyūbi attack, and he's been born in Uzushio. He's a pure bred Uzumaki this time through and through, and he even has the red hair to go with it, ha! As explained above, he's been living with Kushina in the orphanage since both their parents died young. Kushina was always the one to have the verbal tic, and after Naruto having lived with her his whole life, ended up developing one himself.**_

 _ **Kushina being an orphan makes sense to me, because even in canon, I don't think she'd have been as accepting of leaving her home to go to Konoha if she had a family. It doesn't really explain anywhere that she was accepting of it, but she didn't seem too averse to it either, and she was desperate to call Konoha her home, so I imagine she had no family back in Uzushio. With that in mind, I find that both Kushina and Naruto will agree to go to Konoha without much of a fuss.**_

 _ **Also as explained above, Naruto has the Heal Bite. He also knows his parent's died while bleeding out, and this has motivated him to become a medic-nin, and become the best damned medic-nin at that. He's got a strong motivation, and if he has things his way, he'll never see a comrade bleed out in the field again. His parents could've been saved, but there had just been no medics in the squad or anywhere nearby for that matter, so Naruto wants to try and rectify that one day. I guess you could say that would be his dream in this story. He won't be overpowered in any way, but the shinobi from the time he is in now were a lot stronger at a young age than when canon starts, so I feel its fitting the abilities he has at the moment, as well as Kushina.**_

 _ **The fact that he's with Kushina should give you another idea as to what time period this is in if you didn't know before, and the friendly but not so familiar face of Sakumo Hatake, Konoha's White Fang also makes an appearance. I decided to have Sakumo being the escort because this is of quite a sensitive nature. Naruto and Kushina don't know the true intentions of this transfer, but Kushina's powerful chakra was the reason she was chosen as the next vessel for the Ky**_ _ **ūbi, so her safety is of utmost importance. Being the White Fang, I feel his abilities more than fit the bill of being able to protect her. He was claimed to have more fame than even the Sanin at his prime, which should be now in his late twenties, so I feel that it's fitting.**_ _ **Depending on how this story pans out, you should have an idea about what other characters they'll most likely come into contact with, so hopefully that inspires some motivation for you people to want to see more.**_

 _ **Any ways, apologies for the long author's note. I'll leave the decision on whether this story continues in your capable hands now. As the reader it's up to you guys to decide if you want to see more of this story or not. I felt that the idea was a pretty good one, and I've already got loads of plans for the rest of the story should you decide you wanna see it carry on. So favourite, follow, leave some reviews if you have some ideas you'd possibly want to be seen sometime down the line and I'll see what I can come up with if enough people are keen about it. I'm always open to your ideas, and if they're good I don't mind trying to incorporate them into the story.**_

 _ **Heads up in advance though, I'm in the middle of exams and won't have any writing time for a bit, so I won't be able to get started until after that, if it comes to it. Well, enough of my rambling, sorry if I've wasted more of your time, enjoy the rest of your nights or days guys, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I eagerly await your feedback!**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	2. Ends and Beginnings

**_Hey guys, here's the next instalment... I'm still not done with exams just for FYI, and I really shouldn't be here still, but here's another chapter I managed to squeeze out in between my exams. So, hopefully you enjoy it._**

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 1_**

 _Ends and Beginnings_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

Naruto wasn't really sure how he felt about this 'mission' Uzumaki-jiji had sprung on them as suddenly as he had. On the one hand, he was a little sad that he'd be leaving. Despite not having any family in Uzushio aside from his cousin Kushina, this was his home. He'd been born and raised here, albeit by the orphanage, but that was besides the point. Uzushio was all he knew, so the nervousness he was feeling about leaving, while not necessary, was understandable. Change was a scary thing. Even more so for a couple of eight-year-old's. But change was a necessary part of life. Naruto understood that, but it didn't make the fact that they had to leave everything they knew behind any easier.

On the other hand however, he was excited, ecstatic even. Konoha was hailed as one of the strongest, if not _the_ strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations. His potential for growth would be limitless in a place like that, and the thought of learning and experimenting with medical ninjutsu as seen and taught from their point of view had him squealing in his mind like a giddy schoolgirl.

It was an embarrassing feeling actually now that he took some time to think about it, so he immediately halted that line of thinking and coughed into his hands, shrugging his backpack a little further up his shoulders. It was filled with a blank scroll and all his other essentials for fūinjutsu, with all of his other personal possessions safely sealed away within a storage scroll. Everything he'd need packed and ready to go for their relocation.

He continued walking towards their destination at the harbour, Kushina not too far behind. She had literally been bouncing off the walls once they'd eventually been ushered out of Uzumaki-jiji's office, and it was clear as day to see that she was more than chuffed with the mission they'd received. He glanced back just in time to see a body flying at him from the sky, and he took a small step to his left as the girl who'd nearly drilled him into the ground landed in a crouch, a childish pout on her lips after her target seemingly sensed her approach. Naruto just had to ask. "How're you so excited?"

His response was a pair of legs being thrown over his shoulders and a pair of fists tapping on the top of his head incessantly. Incidentally, a ride on his shoulders seemed to be the answer.

"How are you not 'ttebane?! Konoha's the strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations! And do you know what they have that we don't?" she questioned with wide eyes, leaning forward and peering at him upside down from over his head. At the shake of his head, she leaned back before springing forward and landing in front of her redheaded cousin, walking backwards while facing him with her arms held out far and wide. "They have a Hokage! A Hokage 'ttebane!"

She span on her feet and matched pace with her cousin again, shaking her head softly with a huge grin as if the very notion of it was inconceivable. Naruto just rolled his eyes before an evil grin suddenly split his face. 'We're probably not coming back here anytime soon, so might as well make the most of our last few minutes!' Grabbing a paper bag as they passed a fruit stand, he quickly covered his cousin's head with it before shooting off towards the docks, dust kicking up around him as he sped away. "Race you to the harbour!"

After struggling to take the bag off for a few seconds, Kushina eventually just ripped it down the middle and gave chase after her cousin, her hair whipping around her wildly as that oppressive aura from earlier returned full force. "Naruto! When I get my hands on you I'm gonna pound you into oblivion!"

A few seconds passed before a yell was heard in the distance, his reply only succeeding in aggravating her more. "You'll have to catch me first... slowpoke!"

The vein in her temple throbbed in anger, and she clenched her fists at her side as she began planning what was to be his excruciatingly painful demise. 'You'd better make peace with whatever demons you've got cousin, because you are _so_ dead once I'm done with you!' Never let it be said that Uzumaki Kushina was a liar. Because she was gonna make damn sure that she followed through with that promise of pain. Her prey thought he was in the clear? Oh Kami how wrong he was.

XxX

The Uzushio docks were surrounded by a natural harbour of land on all sides, the only exit being straight ahead through a smaller opening of earth. The natural harbour itself was surrounded by whirlpools as well, providing a perfect defense against any unwanted intrusions. The relatively narrow passageway of water where the earth gave way to the only exit to the harbour also had its own smaller whirlpools running through the passage in addition to the ones surrounding it from the outside, however these ones were artificially created through the use of fūinjutsu.

Any vessel that wanted to enter or exit the docks of Uzushio had to have a specialised seal inscribed on their ship's hull, which would periodically deactivate these smaller whirlpools as you proceeded. Having many smaller whirlpools lined up behind each other prevented any other unwanted vessels from tailgating a ship straight through to the docks and subsequently infiltrating the village itself. A necessary fail-safe that had needed to be implemented after their previous use of one larger whirlpool had failed in years past.

Hatake Sakumo sailed through the air with his pony tail billowing behind him, landing on the deck of the vessel he'd arrived on without a sound, not a single ripple out of place on the water's surface around the boat. It was a trade ship that proudly sported the symbol of Hi no Kuni upon its sails, and he'd hitched a ride with them on their way here in order to keep a low profile. It had just been going about its normal rounds along the trade route between the port in Hi no Kuni and this one here, and the contents of its cargo were largely unknown to Sakumo. All he knew was that it was something that only required a few more minutes loading time before it was deemed ready to return to the mainland, which meant that he and his two passengers could head back to Konoha immediately.

Looking up into the sky to gauge the time, he predicted that if they left now they'd most likely hit the port back at home in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It was around a two and a half days' journey back to Konoha from where they'd be landing in Hi no Kuni for your average three man cell by foot. Factoring in that his charges were only eight years old, he reasoned they'd probably add about an extra two days to that estimate.

His train of thought was halted however as a massive dust cloud could be seen in the distance, only increasing in size and nearing the ship at a rapid pace. As the cloud got closer however, it was clear as day to see what was causing the commotion, and the forms of two small redheads could be made out from within. Naruto was running ahead of Kushina with a big smile on his face, while the girl for the most part looked nothing short of demonic. Sakumo ventured a guess that they were probably racing again if what Uzumaki-sama had told him yesterday about their relationship was true, but Kushina didn't seem to care so much about winning as she did about wrapping her hands around Naruto's neck and applying a good deal of force.

Naruto himself had completely lost himself in the race, and he was none the wiser to the dangers that were to befall him as soon as he stopped. So when he skidded to a screeching halt in front of the boat with Konoha's White Fang aboard it with a jump and aloud 'Yip!' of excitement, he was taken completely by surprise when a fist impacted with the back of his head and launched him over the boat and into the water on the other side.

Sakumo craned his head to watch the redhead's arc and let out a low whistle of appreciation at the distance he'd managed to travel. 'Uzumaki-sama was dead on with his assessment of Kushina-san. Her temper is quite formidable indeed.' Watching as the red-haired girl huffed tiredly off to his left with a smirk of satisfaction on her face, he cleared is throat and sent her a disarming smile. "I'm glad to see you both made it on time, and in one piece... more or less I hope?"

Kushina turned her head and her eyes widened in embarrassment at his question, her arms quickly flailing around in nervousness. "O-Of course Sakumo-san, he's had much worse than that before, he'll be perfectly fine."

Her words seemed to appease him for now as he smiled gently, although internally Sakumo had to wince at that. 'And she says he's endured worse than _that_?' He shook his head softly and directed her aboard the boat, moving over to the other side to try and catch sight of his other wayward charge. 'I must remember that although they're young, they're still both Uzumaki's. In that case, the trek back to the village should only take about an extra half a day at most. Their endurance levels never cease to amaze me.'

Nodding to himself, the silver-haired Hatake moved to peek his head over the side of the boat, but before he even made it to the edge, a tuft of red hair made itself visible. Two hands followed right after and then the entirety of Naruto himself, vaulting over the edge of the ship and landing on the deck with a squelch. He was soaked to the bone, and Sakumo just had to ask: "Was whatever you did really worth _all_ that trouble?"

Looking up at the man after giving himself a good shake to try disperse most of the water, Naruto's face broke out into a wide grin. "Hells yeah it was! I'm four up now with 23 races to 19. She's gonna have a lot of catching up to do if she wants to take my spot at top of the podium!"

Sakumo just stared at the boy with an amused smile. "Uh-huh. Best get you out of those wet clothes though and into something dry. You may be a medic in training, but you're not immune to getting sick yourself." Although as Uzumaki's with heightened vitality, even Sakumo couldn't be completely certain if that were true or not. He didn't think on it for long though before chucking a towel he'd grabbed at the boy as he began stripping. "I'll show you to our quarters in a moment, I just need to send word out to the Hokage that we're on our way."

Naruto just nodded dumbly as he wrapped the towel around his body, his head the only appendage visible as he watched the silver-haired shinobi.

Sakumo grabbed a small vial-sized scroll from his flak jacket before quickly scribbling down his note and rolling it back up. He placed the scroll between his lips and ran through a set of hands seals too fast for Naruto to keep up with, slamming a hand to the wooden deck below. " _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ _ **(Summoning Technique)**_!"

A seal matrix spread out underneath the man's hand before being enveloped in a puff of smoke. As the smoke dissipated, what remained was a small pug-like dog with cream-coloured fur and a dark brown snout and ears. It was wearing a blue vest with a heno-heno-moheji seal, as well as a blue Konoha hitai-ate on top of its head. The small dog shook its head softly, sending its ears flapping this way and that before raising a paw in greeting. "Good evening Sakumo. What do you need?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the sound of the dog's soft female voice, but he didn't express his awe at the fact that a dog was talking after figuring that such things in the shinobi world weren't as uncommon or impossible as he probably thought they were. 'I mean, what's so weird about a dog talking... I can walk on water for Kami's sake.'

Sakumo bent down on one knee and rubbed the dog's head, a small smile on his face at the sight of his ninken familiar looking good and well as always. "Good evening to you too Sachi. It's good to see you've recovered from our last mission. But on to why I've called you here. I need you to deliver a message for me to the Hokage, and to the Hokage _only_. This is of a time-sensitive nature as well, so I'd appreciate it if you could make sure to get it to him within two days."

The small pug bowed its head and got up onto all fours. "In that case I'll make sure to get it to him within one. Be sure to call on me again if you require my assistance Sakumo." With that, Sachi opened her mouth and closed her jaws around the scroll that was given to her by her summoner, bowing her head once more before leaping off the boat with great speed, disappearing from view within a few seconds.

Sakumo watched his trusted summon run off into the distance in the direction of his home before turning back to the small redhead and ushering him towards the inner cabin, their quarters being below deck. "Now that that's all taken care of we can go get you properly clothed before you catch cold. The ship will be departing shortly, so best we remove ourselves from the deck so as not to get in any of the crew members' ways."

Naruto nodded and wrapped the towel around him a little tighter, taking one last look at the slowly setting sun before following Sakumo in through the door. Well, they were just about ready to head on towards Konoha. And in all honesty... 'I'm actually getting a little excited now myself... damn you Kushina and your infectious excitement 'ttebayo!'

* * *

 _Highway just beyond Konohagakure no Sato's village borders..._

* * *

The sweltering midday sun of Hi no Kuni hung high in the air, the position of its arc indicating that it was most likely rounding on four o'clock in the afternoon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky for miles, the weather a typical occurrence for a day in Hi no Kuni. Birds chirped loudly in the distance, and a soft breeze rustled the leaves of the trees that were so prominently scattered all around the land.

Three figures approached from the horizon moving at a leisurely speed. The three figures consisting of one Hatake Sakumo, with his two charges Uzumaki Kushina and Uzumaki Naruto. Flanking them from the trees on all sides were several of the Hokage's best trained Anbu, however they were the best trained for a reason, and their presence was wholly unknown to the young Uzumaki's.

Both redhead's had nervous smiles on their faces as they neared their destination, their anticipation reaching new heights as they came to the conclusion of their journey. Both handled their nervousness in very different ways however.

Naruto for his part just kept his eyes trained straight ahead of him with his hands held behind his head, his outward appearance a direct contrast to the inner rumblings of his mind. His thoughts would otherwise be a constant series of questions. And the human brain was programmed to respond to questions, which his would do. Whether he had the answers or not, he would constantly be weighing up everything in his mind, drowning in his own thoughts. To keep this from happening though, he would recite medical procedures and theory, anything to keep his mind from wandering. It was a sort of coping mechanism he'd developed sometime after he'd begun medic training, and whenever he was particularly nervous about something, reciting medical theory was his best form of keeping himself composed.

His inner-parroting was brought to an abrupt halt however as a sharp pain emanated from his ribs. Glancing to his side, he found the source of the pain to be an elbow from his red-haired cousin who seemed to be on some sort of caffeine high. Seeing her expectant look, he ventured she'd probably asked him some kind of question. Sigh. "Could you say that again Kushina? I didn't hear you."

Sakumo's eyes widened from the front after hearing that, but he wisely opted to keep his mouth shut, lest he incur Kushina's wrath. He'd come to learn of her rather demonic ways quite quickly over the past few days, and he now knew better than to cross her path directly. Kushina herself seemed a little miffed that he hadn't been listening, but with a sharp intake of breath she decided to repeat herself any way.

"What I said was... whyareyouactingsoquietandwhydon'tyoulooksoexcitedImeanwe'reminutesaway—"

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before he promptly slapped a hand over her mouth, her muffled voice chattering on beneath his hand as if she wasn't obstructed in any way whatsoever. She carried on for a few more seconds before throwing her hands up in the air with an expectant look on her face, obviously waiting for the second time now for Naruto to answer her question.

While Naruto's nervousness was managed in a much quieter way, Kushina tended to revert to being a lot more vocal. It was just who she was however, so he slowly removed his hand from her mouth and wiped off all the gooey saliva that was now covering the palm of his hand. "Yum. How about we just take a nice deep breath together, huh?"

The fiery redhead pursed her lips but acquiesced nonetheless, taking a deep calming breath before grabbing her cousin's forearm comfortingly. "What if they don't like us 'ttebane? All I wanna do is fit in here, but with this red hair the only thing we're gonna do is stand out."

She pouted childishly at the thought, but Naruto just snorted and grinned broadly. "Who cares what everyone else thinks? If they don't like us then that's their loss. Besides, everyone knows that red is the best colour 'ttebayo!"

Sakumo couldn't help but smile gently as his two charges continued to chatter on animatedly behind him. He'd been able to get quite an accurate read on the two children during his travel with them from Uzu no Kuni back home. The two, despite not being siblings, had a very much sibling-esque relationship. Just like with every sibling relationship, they tended to butt heads more often than not on a lot of different things, either due to a difference in their view points, or simply a case of brotherly teasing that usually ended with a fist being planted into Naruto's skull.

The thought drew a soft chuckle from the silver-haired man. Originally he'd feared a little for the red-haired boy's life, but it seemed that the back and forth between him and Kushina really was a normal occurrence. If nothing else, their energetic and enthusiastic personalities would surely liven up Konoha, something the village could always use more of.

Glancing ahead, the front gates of the village were finally within view, and he turned his head back to get the two Uzumaki's attention. "Okay you two, it seems we're finally rounding on the conclusion of our journey. As your escort, I can safely say it has been a pleasure travelling with you, and I'm glad I was given this opportunity."

The two redheads smiled up at the tall man they'd been travelling with, and Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully. "Ah, you don't have to go make it all sappy and mushy Sakumo-san."

Kushina raised a fist and dropped it on top of Naruto's head, grinding it into his skull as she looked up at Konoha's White Fang with a sheepish smile before bowing softly. "What he _meant_ to say was, it's been a pleasure as well Sakumo-san. Thank you for escorting us here from Uzushio!"

The silver-haired shinobi chuckled good-naturedly before rubbing the back of his own head. "Please, don't mention it. I was only doing my duty. Once I clear our arrival with the gate guards we will proceed to Hokage-sama's office, and I'll be leaving you in his capable hands."

Both kids smiled up at him in what he assumed they thought was assurance, but he could see the small sliver of doubt residing in their eyes. "There's no need to worry, Hokage-sama is a wonderful man, and you'll be perfectly all right with him. I give you my word."

XxX

Standing at attention in front of the Hokage's desk were the two red-haired Uzumaki's who had only several minutes ago stepped foot into Konoha for the very first time. True to his word, Sakumo had escorted them right to the Hokage himself before having a quick word with his leader and departing thereafter. The strongest shinobi of Konoha, the Shinobi no Kami himself Sarutobi Hiruzen sat mere metres away from the two now very diminutive-feeling redheads. The Hokage had tanned skin with dark brown hair and a small goatee, and a single inked line running vertically under the outer corners of each of his eyes. He wore the official Hokage's uniform that consisted of a haori with a red full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash, and the hat that was hanging off the corner of the chair's back rest, the symbol for Hi no Kuni emblazoned proudly on the hat's forefront.

He was no spring chicken like when he'd first been named Sandaime Hokage, but he wasn't old either, not by any stretch of the word. He was in fact 40 years old to be exact, and quite recently at that, if the haphazardly strewn about birthday cards littering his desk were anything to go by. His presence commanded respect however, and the power radiating off of him was difficult to miss. It wasn't stifling, not in an uncomfortable way. It was more just the constant aura surrounding the man. He was very powerful, that much was certain. He most definitely was not called the Shinobi no Kami for nothing.

Naruto, so focused on analysing every detail about the man in front of him, didn't realise he was thinking aloud until the man behind the desk himself let out an amused chuckle. Naruto's eyes widened in mortification, and he immediately bowed his head in apology after realising what he'd been doing. "I-I'm so sorry 'ttebayo!"

The man just chuckled again, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "That's quite all right Uzumaki-kun, that's quite all right."

Naruto slowly lifted his head, scratching at his burning cheeks in embarrassment and smiling nervously. "S-So uh, how much of that did you hear any ways?"

The man 'hmmd' in thought before shrugging his shoulders. "Not that much in all honesty." Naruto breathed a noticeable sigh of relief at that, but missed the way the Hokage's eyes once again lit up in amusement. "I may not be a 'spring chicken', but I'm still _plenty_ young by the way, and still very much in the prime of my youth."

Naruto just chuckled nervously. It seemed he had heard everything right from the beginning. "Heh-heh, sorry about that. Happy birthday for what it's worth," he said with no amount of enthusiasm and a lacklustre effort, raising his hands into the air for an awkward and wordless 'woot-woot'. He turned to Kushina to try get her to join him, before her positively livid stare changed his mind and prompted him to drop his hands back to his side immediately, a soft gulp echoing in his ears. He was almost certain he saw a strand of her hair twitch, and when those fiery locks came alive, it never ended in anything less than physical pain for him.

The Hokage's chair creaked softly as he got up from his seated position and smiled at the two Uzumaki's. "I imagine you two must both be quite exhausted after your long trip. All the admin of this transfer can be taken care of tomorrow," he said with no small amount of annoyance, sending a small glare at the stacks of paper littering half of his desk before smiling gently back at the two eight-year-old's. "I feel it's probably best if I show you to where you'll be staying from now for the moment though. I assure you that you'll be quite pleased with the arrangements. You'll have a chance to meet and get to know a relative of yours that is originally from Uzushio as well."

This caused both Uzumaki's to widen their eyes in surprise. They didn't know of any Uzumaki that had previously left Uzushio for Konoha. It must have been quite a while back though, otherwise they would've definitely known about it right? But the question of 'Who?!' on both of the redhead's lips was asked with a much greater amount of confidence and what sounded like depseration than Hiruzen himself had seen of the children as of yet, and he imagined that they'd more than likely have an easier time settling in here being with someone from their own clan. Not to mention she was the current Kyūbi jinchūriki, but neither children knew that as of yet. No one but a handful of people did actually. It wasn't time for them to become privy to such information either however. Not for a while at least.

"I'm not surpised you don't know of her. She moved here to Konoha more than 70 years ago, and was around during the founding of this fine village. Her name is Uzumaki Mito, and she was in fact married to our very first Hokage and one of my mentors, Senju Hashirama-sensei, before he passed away some time after that."

Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly shuffled around his desk and placed a hand on each child's shoulder, gently directing them out of his office. "But that's of no consequence. Come, I'll escort you to her place of residence myself. In the meantime, how about you both tell me a few things about yourself, hm? I don't even know your names yet. Oh, and where are my manners... welcome to Konoha! I wonder... do you two have the Will of Fire within, as young as you are?"

Kushina scrunched her nose and voiced the question that was on both children's minds. "The Will of Fire? What the heck is that? Sounds like some kind of ritual if you ask me 'ttebane!"

Hiruzen had to chuckle to himself at that, and he held a hand to his stomach as he let out a laugh. Ah, it was good to laugh again. Hashirama-sensei had always been the one to liven things up around here, and after he was gone, Tobirama-sensei had sought to put an end to much of the tom-foolery that his older brother was known for. But alas, it was good to have some people around here that had such startlingly similar personalities to his former sensei. "In time, as shinobi of Konoha, you too will come to know of the Will of Fire. It is something that has been passed down through generations, something that was passed down to me by my predecessors and sensei."

"I'm still just as clueless about this Will of Fire as I was when you first mentioned it! Is it some kind of super jutsu?" Kushina asked with excitement dancing in her eyes.

Hiruzen smiled softly and glanced towards the faces on the Hokage Monument. "It is our village's indomitable strength to keep fighting and ploughing on in protection of this village, even when all the odds are stacked against you. As young as you are, I wonder..." He hummed softly to himself in thought, and Naruto and Kushina simply shrugged their shoulders in confusion. Well, whatever it was, it could take a back seat. They were just really looking forward to meeting another Uzumaki who had moved here just like them! If anything, she'd at least be able to help them out if they ever needed it, given their similar circumstances for moving to the village.

* * *

 _ **Well, that's a wrap and officially chapter one of JFO. I'm still a little curious as to what you guys think of the title. I'd originally named it based on Naruto and Kushina just following the orders of their leader and moving over to Konoha without any fuss, but I can't help but feel that it doesn't really have much oomph to it if you know what I mean, hehe. But oh well, we'll see how it goes, maybe I'll change it later if something cooler and awesome makes itself known.**_

 _ **On to this chapter, it was a bit of a filler chapter, but I'm thinking of sticking to around 5k words for each chapter. It might toll up to more chapters in the end, but it's a lot easier for me to write up shorter chapters in between Uni work and exams, even though I should really be doing something along the lines of studying, haha! If you've got any questions, drop a review or a PM and I'll answer as best I can without giving away too much so as not to spoil anything for you.**_

 _ **What I've got planned for the next chapter might also land up being a bit of a filler, I'm still trying to work through a bit of the admin if I can put it like that, so please bear with me for now if it's a little slow for you guys. I apologise in advance. But I'd just like to get your opinion on something... they're obviously gonna go to the academy, and things are gonna happen there, but I'd like to skip most of that because, lets face it, the academy times are a little boring. School is boring, so I doubt you'd wanna read up more on school when you're probably taking a break from school while reading this story, am I right? That being said, I'll write up a chapter that details a little about what's going on, who they're in a class with etc etc, but then I'm gonna have a bit of a time skip to their graduation, or at least, that was the plan. If you guys are completely against that, I'll try wangle up some chapters for their academy days, but I'd prefer to skip that if at all possible.**_

 _ **Okay, one more thing I have to say in this AN which is turning out to be a lot longer than I wanted it to... I'm not one for incest, and on that note, I'd just like to point out that this will not in any way be a Naruto/Kushina story! I'm not judging anyone who's into incest, to each their own and all that y'know, but I'm not particularly comfortable with it, so I'm gonna refrain from that. They're going to have something akin to a brother-sister relationship even though they're only cousins, but I've got other plans in mind for a pairing for Naruto when it eventually gets to that too!**_

 _ **I hope you guys are cool with that, but for those who aren't, I'm sorry, but you'll have to look elsewhere for Uzumaki-cest stories.**_

 _ **Any ways, only a few more exams for me to go, so wish me luck! I eagerly await your feedback!**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	3. Elementary Academics

**_And here's the next instalment guys, my exams are mostly done, and I have a few break days in between now and the last one, so I thought I'd put up a chapter for you guys. Hope you enjoy it!_**

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 2_**

 _Elementary Academics_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

By the time Hiruzen, Naruto and Kushina had arrived at Mito-sama's house, the day was nearing into early evening, and brilliant hues of red and pink danced around in the orange sky as the setting sun began to dip into the horizon. There weren't too many people still milling about, and those that were were either on their way home from a day's work, or were finishing up with some last minute shopping before turning in for the night.

Mito's house itself wasn't too far from the Hokage's office. If you were looking at the Hokage Monument, the house was located to the bottom left of the mountain that overshadowed the village. Sakura trees littered the path on the way to the house, and there were several more sakura trees standing tall in and around the house itself. The house was by no means small, but it was nothing compared to some of the more predominant clans in Konoha. Considering that the woman was a former wife of the Shodaime Hokage, it was actually quite humble in its size and furnishings from what they could see, the one-story house looking to have quite a homey feel to it.

Hiruzen led the way up the front cobbled path to the simple wooden door, and seeing that his two charges were still with him, gave the small knocker located on the front a few soft raps. They waited a couple minutes as shuffling was heard from within before locks were heard clicking from the other side and the door swung open slightly to reveal the face of an elderly woman.

She was wearing a simple loose-fitting off-white kimono held closed with a dark grey obi. Her hair, which was a dark maroon, was tied up into two buns, with a great portion hanging down her back, and she had a purple diamond seal on her forehead. Her pupiless eyes were held closed in a gentle smile, and upon noticing who was here, she opened the door fully and gestured for Hiruzen to come closer. "Hokage-sama, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Hiruzen smiled genially, moving closer to offer his former sensei's wife a hug in greeting. "Ah, it's good to see you after so long Mito—"

He was promptly cut off as a fist impacted with his skull, and the elderly women opened a single eye with a mischievous smirk on her face. "And why, pray tell my little Saru-chan, has it been as _long_ as it has since you've last come to visit me? I swear, Hashirama would be rolling over in his grave had he known you've neglected an elderly woman such as myself for as long as you have, not to mention the fact that I'm his wife! Or that I used to help in your training sessions when you were but an upstart."

Naruto snickered inwardly at the nickname, and was somewhat pleased at seeing someone take a beating from an Uzumaki woman and not being on the receiving end himself for a change. Kushina seemed to have stars in her eyes at the performance, and Naruto didn't particularly like the look she was getting. The slight clenching and unclenching of her fists didn't go unnoticed either, and he calmly took a small step to the left, putting the buffer of the Hokage in between him and her, just in case Kushina got a little _too_ excited and spontaneously shot a fist out at him.

Hiruzen for his part just rubbed the top of his head with an apologetic smile on his face, doing his best to diffuse the situation that could in no amount of time escalate into something fierce. "I'm sorry it's been so long Mito, but—"

"And please, none of this 'Mito' crap. You can call me Obasan like you always used to, no need to try acting cool and being all shy now that you're Hokage."

'Saru-chan' just nodded his head obediently, letting out a soft sigh. 'Oh Hashirama-sensei, give me the strength...' Closing his eyes and looking back up at the woman, he simply resigned himself to his fate and soldiered on. He was a shinobi of the highest calibre, and he would endure this just like any other insurmountable task he was faced with. "Okay... Obasan, you have my word that I will be over to visit more often now—"

"And do bring that wife of yours, Biwako-chan," the elderly woman interrupted, nodding resolutely to herself as Hiruzen acquiesced and called her the name he always used to use just like back in the old days. "It's been so long since I've seen her, and we need to have a nice long talk, girl to girl. I'm afraid you've been childless long enough now Saru-chan, and I want to see some grandchildren before I kick the bucket!"

Hiruzen wisely chose to simply nod his head and agree. There was no use in arguing, or even trying to disagree. 'Women always were an insurmountable task that I could never seem to overcome.' Sighing softly as the beginnings of a headache began making itself known, he quickly remembered why he was here and pushed the two redheads forward by their shoulders, the elderly woman finally seeming to take note of them for the first time. This had the added benefit of taking the spotlight off Hiruzen, and he thanked his lucky stars that he was given a moment's reprieve. "These are the two I sent word about, and they've just arrived today from Uzu no Kuni."

Mito glanced down at the two children and a forlorn expression creeped its way onto her features. 'So this must be the next vessel for the Kyūbi. She's so beautiful, and still so very young...' The sad thoughts were quickly squashed though as she smiled down gently at the two. She couldn't dwell on thoughts like that while the kids were right in front of her. "And just who do we have here?"

Kushina took the initiative and stepped forward with her hands clasped together and a broad smile on her face. "My name's Uzumaki Kushina 'ttebane, and this is my cousin Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto's mouth closed upon realising that he was being spoken for, and he let out a small sigh as Hiruzen placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Do not fret my boy, you'll learn to endure it just like men all over the world—"

"What was that Saru-chan?"

"Nothing!" both man and boy shot out quickly, stiffening up and standing ramrod straight at the question. Naruto didn't dare make eye contact with the woman herself, and he simply kept his eyes trained forward.

"'Nothing' is right. Now come inside," she said gently, moving aside and gesturing for them to enter her home. "I've got some tea brewing in the kitchen and supper boiling on the stove. Stay for some tea would you Saru-chan?"

The way her head angled to the side as she posed the question seemed all too sweet for Hiruzen, and he reckoned there was a promise of pain thinly veiled beneath that question. He didn't dare decline for fear of his life however. "Of course Mi—I mean Obasan. I'd love to." Ha. 'What I'd really love to do is get home to my wife. She said she was making hijiki tonight.' His favourite food would have to take a back seat for the moment. If he tried to hoodwink his way out and Mito caught him... the consequences of such a thing were undoubtedly grave. He could attempt to avoid her entirely after, but that was highly unlikely given her 'tenant' and the fact that it would need to be resealed soon. He would definitely be seeing her again, and that woman would never forget. He'd seen it before. Not experienced however. That unfortunate fate had befallen his late sensei Hashirama, rest his soul.

The trio consisting of Hiruzen, Kushina and Naruto walked into the house, and Mito led them into the dining room. It wasn't a massive room, but it was big enough. It held the dining table that seated six off to the left of the room, with three small sofas around a small tea table off to the right. It was very homey, and the pictures and odd knick-knacks that were scattered all around the house and the room only added to the warm vibes that permeated the house. It seemed that the inside was just as humbly furnished as the outside. How an old woman managed to stay here herself though was beyond Naruto. It must get pretty lonely sometimes. Her earlier unwarranted explosion about Hiruzen not visiting was seemingly not so unwarranted anymore.

The kids and Hiruzen sat down at the table, and all three gratefully accepted the cups of tea that were poured and placed in front of them as Mito took a seat herself. She took a generous sip of the warm tea and once again glanced down at the two children, a bitter sweet smile on her face. 'Still so very young... if it were up to me, I'd never allow this beast to be sealed into someone who still has so much of her life ahead of her... but alas, it is our duty as shinobi, and she will endure it as a shinobi should.'

She took one more sip of her tea before gesturing to the passageway on her left. "You two must be exhausted, so why don't you two kids go find yourselves each a bedroom so long. There are three spare rooms all along this passage, and you two may choose whichever you wish to stay in. I'd like to have a quick word with Saru-chan here."

Kushina nodded her head and grabbed her cup of tea, while Naruto himself downed the rest of his in a large gulp and followed suit with his cousin. To be honest, his legs were actually feeling a bit sore as well. They'd been travelling constantly for the past three days, and he was looking forward to being able to flop down on top of a proper bed again. "Thanks for the cup of tea Uzumaki-san."

"Please, call me Mito-baa," she insisted with a soft smile.

Naruto nodded before following after Kushina who was already halfway down the passage, her head swiveling this way and that as she glanced at all the pictures that were hanging from the walls. "Okay, thanks Mito-baa!"

Mito smiled as the two left, but once their presence was gone she immediately turned back to her other guest and looked at him seriously. It was time to get down to business. "I know you wanted to reseal the Kyūbi into that child at the soonest possible date, but she's still _so_ young. I know I said that I've been nearing the end of my rope for some time now, but for this girl... for Kushina-chan, I can hold out for a little longer. At least until she becomes a shinobi and understands _why_ this is being done Hiruzen. Please."

Hiruzen sipped softly at his tea and pondered her request. The fact that she was using his real name was testament to how serious she was about this. Truth be told, Hiruzen himself had reservations about sealing the Kyūbi into Kushina at such a young age as well. On top of the fact brought up by Mito, it wasn't strategically wise either. He swallowed another mouthful of tea before sighing contentedly as the warm liquid rolled down his throat. His mind was made up then. "Okay, you have my word... Obasan."

Mito opened her eyes and gave him a thankful smile, grabbing his hand across the table comfortingly before getting back up and going into the kitchen to give her pot of food a stir. "You're still as soft as ever when it comes to women, Saru-chan," she shouted from within the kitchen.

Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He knew it. He knew it all too well. But that was just who he was, so there was no use griping over it. Although it could also be attested to the healthy appreciation he had for the fairer sex, something that had been cultivated over the years with one of his students. "You know," he said softly to himself, grabbing his cup and taking another sip of the warm tea. "Tsunade would often say the same thing..."

* * *

 _A little ways off from the Academy, the next day..._

* * *

Naruto and Kushina walked slowly side by side as they made their way to the Academy building. They'd just had to make a quick stop at the Hokage's office to fetch the application forms that had already been filled out for them by the Hokage himself, and they were now on their way to the Academy. They were basically already enrolled, and their need to take the application forms to the Academy building was more of a small formality than anything else.

Apparently, the sensei of their class already knew they'd be coming, and had made all the necessary arrangements and adjustments to his rosters and programs for the arrival of two new students. The class that they'd be joining had only been formed a few months ago, so they wouldn't have missed too much work. And with a little extra effort on their part, they'd be able to catch up on the small amount of work they'd missed out on in no time.

It wasn't long before they eventually found themselves in front of the building they were looking for. Truth be told, the Hokage's office and the Academy building were actually conjoined as one, and it was only a few minutes walk from the Hokage's office before they eventually arrived at their destination. A small tree with a solitary swing hung outside the front of the building, with two wooden doors at the entrance. Heading in through the front doors, Naruto glanced down at the small note he'd been given by the Hokage which had their classroom number on it before folding it up and sliding it back into his pocket. 'Classroom number 6 it is then.'

Naruto gestured for Kushina to follow him as he followed some small signs that were placed up all along the passageways inside the building. "Come on, it's this way."

Kushina just nodded and followed suit, stepping up beside her cousin before they stopped outside the classroom door which was obviously there's. She suddenly felt very nervous and grabbed on to Naruto's forearm again, biting her lower lip in worry. "What... what if they don't—"

Naruto shook his head softly with a small smile on his face. "What did I say. If they don't like us, that's their loss. Come on, we'll be fine. I'll even lead the way." And lead the way he did, sliding the door open and immediately drawing everyone's eyes. He looked around the classroom before his eyes fell on a man who was obviously the sensei. He could already hear the soft mutterings going on around the class about their hair colour, but he chose to completely ignore them and approached the man with his application folder, Kushina one step behind him the whole way. "We were told this was the class we're assigned to."

The sensei gave them both a confused look before gently taking the application folder and flicking through a few pages. "Uzumaki Naruto huh? I wasn't informed of any new students—ah, I see the problem here. How'd you know to come to this class any ways?" At that Naruto fished out the note from the Hokage and handed it to the man. The sensei took a quick a look at it before turning it clockwise 360 degrees and handing it back to Naruto. "There's your problem kid. You should be in classroom number 9. This is a second year class."

Soft snickers erupted around the classroom, and Naruto hung his head in mortification, his cheeks burning in embarrassment. "S-Sorry about that sensei! And apologies for wasting your time!" There were more snickers heard after his apology, and he hastily grabbed Kushina by the wrist and dragged her out the classroom and back into the hall, shutting the door and releasing a deep breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. He waited a few more seconds and took a few more deep breaths before sighing softly. "Okay. That didn't go as I'd imagined. Second time lucky though."

He crossed his fingers behind his back and proceeded to the class at the end of the hall, the number 9 prominently displayed on the sign outside the class. Giving Kushina a sideways glance, he nodded his head at her before sliding the door open once again and hoping that he had it right this time.

Standing in the front of the class was a small girl with an animalistic look to her features. That was the only way Naruto could describe it. She had long, spiky, untamed brown hair with a purple fang tattoo on each cheek, and her elongated canines could be seen as she snarled at the apparent interruption. She had a small dog with black fur and a white underside atop her head, and the sight of the dog atop her head was quite strange.

The way her fangs were baring at Naruto was actually getting quite scary, and he wondered why she suddenly looked so murderous before she raised her fist at him. "Who're you calling animalistic you punk?!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he realised what he'd been doing again, Kushina palming her face from behind him. 'What a moron 'ttebane! Can't he hear when he's speaking out loud like that?!'

Naruto just held up his hands in surrender, a nervous smile on his face. "H-Hey now, I didn't mean it—"

"Like hell you didn't mean it!" she shouted back angrily, the small dog atop her head now growling and baring its teeth along with her. They made for quite the fearsome duo. "Come over here so I can shove my foot up your—"

"Okay Tsume that's enough!" A tall man wearing the standard Konoha uniform and flak jacket stood up from his position at one of the student's desks, his hitai-ate tied around his head like a bandanna. The now-grumbling Inuzuka had her arms crossed and was slowly trudging her way back to her desk, her feet stomping angrily on the wooden floor all the way.

The chūnin who was apparently the teacher of this class moved back down to the front to address the two redheads. "So, you two must be the new transfer students huh? How about you two introduce yourselves quickly while I hold onto those applications for the moment." It wasn't a question, and Naruto and Kushina quickly handed the man the applications in their hands before he moved to behind his desk to take a seat. Hearing no talking, the chūnin looked up and gestured for the two to face the class. "Go on, I'm listening as well—"

"I'm Uzumaki Kushina 'ttebane!" Naruto looked to his side to see his cousin with burning red cheeks and a hand over her mouth. Clearly she hadn't meant to just blurt that out quite the way she had. Naruto himself let out a soft snicker, and his laughing only seemed to spur Kushina on more, all previous embarrassment now gone. "And I'm going to become the first female Hokage of Konoha!"

There was a short moment of silence before a boy stood up and held a fist to his chest. He had spiky blonde hair and cerulean-blue eyes, and there was a thin smile on his face as he looked down at the newcomers. "Me too. I want to become a Hokage that is respected by the whole village." Kushina sent an unimpressed glare his way, but the boy himself didn't seem to notice, too caught up in the telling of his dream. He looked like too much of a pretty-boy for Kushina to take him seriously.

Naruto coughed into his hand to get everyone's attention before Kushina could start talking again and gave the class a beaming smile. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I want to become a great medic-nin and help save lives."

Once they were done, the chūnin at the back of the class stood up and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "All right class, you heard their names. Kushina and Naruto are transfer students from Uzu no Kuni and will be joining us from today. For future reference, my name is Tokimaru- _sensei_ , so please refer to me as such. I'm going to go file these applications in the teacher's lounge, so find yourselves a seat and I'll be with you shortly."

As the door to the class slid shut with the departure of their sensei, the class erupted into small whispers as the students took the opportunity to talk while they had time. Listening to the soft mutterings, Naruto found that none of them were about his or Kushina's hair colour. Glancing around the room, he found another individual who had spiky red hair as well. Naruto was about to wonder whether he was an Uzumaki before he found purple clan tattoos on his cheeks. He was quite a plump boy, and he had a pair of hooped silver earrings in his ears. Naruto imagined that the novelty of having red hair wore off rather quickly with that boy already, so there was no reason for the entire class to go at it again and ridicule them for their hair.

Naruto quickly spied two seats open at the back of the class and made his way there, Kushina following a couple steps behind him. They might have dodged being singled out because of their hair colour, but for the moment they were still the only two people they knew, so they decided to stick together for now. The class was still chatting animatedly, and Naruto slid into his seat beside a boy with dark hair that was tied up into a spiky pony tail. He also had a pair of silver earrings in his ears, but Naruto had no idea what colour his eyes were because his face was atop his arms which were crossed on his desk, his soft and steady breathing a clear indication that he was most definitely sleeping.

The boy on the other side of the sleeping kid had long ash-blonde hair that was tied in a small ponytail with blue-green eyes and the same silver earrings as the boy who was sleeping. He looked over at Naruto and Kushina with a smile and chuckled at their contemplative looks. "Don't worry about him. He may look and sound like he's sleeping, but he's really just lazy. He feels that sitting up in class all day can be too much of a drag, so he prefers that position. My name's Inoichi by the way, and the one who feels like it's probably too much of a drag to introduce himself is Shikaku."

"Want me to wake him up for ya?" Kushina questioned while holding a fist in the air with a devious smirk on her face. "I know just what he needs."

Naruto chuckled dubiously as a vein throbbed in his cousin's fist, and against his better judgement, he placed a hand on her fist and slowly lowered it. "Let's not try cause anymore of a scene our first day here huh? Whad'dya say?"

She thought on it for a few moments before finally sighing and acquiescing. "All right fine. I just wanted to have a little fun 'ttebane..."

"Yeah, well you and pretty much every other person I've ever met have very different definitions of fun."

The red-haired girl just huffed before crossing her arms with a pout. "Buzzkill."

Naruto just breathed a sigh of relief at having avoided a possible fallout before turning back to the blonde-haired boy that'd spoken to him before. "So uh, I noticed you and Shikaku, and that red-haired boy in the front have the same earrings in your ears. Why's that if you don't mind me asking?"

Inoichi touched at the aforementioned earrings, his eyes widening in recognition. He'd almost forgotten he was even wearing them. "They're a tradition in our clans. Our three clans have always operated alongside each other in battle, and we wear these earrings until our promotion to chūnin... or something like that. My father explained it to me once when I was little, but I didn't really listen to what he was saying."

Before Naruto could voice another question, the door to the class slid open again and Tokimaru-sensei's presence immediately hushed the rest of the class. The chūnin rifled through his desk drawers before quickly finding a piece of paper and scribbling a note on it, making a show of holding it in the air for the two redheads in particular to see. "Naruto, Kushina; come see me at the end of the day so that I can give you your permission slip to go fetch the literature you'll require later. For now, just do your best to listen."

The two Uzumaki's nodded their heads and made sure to listen to what their sensei had to say. As difficult as it was for them to sit still, Mito-baa had told them to do their best, and to do the name Uzumaki proud. With that in mind, how could they not. It would only benefit them any ways. As a medic in training, it had been ingrained in him that there was a time for fun, and their was a time to get serious. When lives were on the line, you couldn't afford to joke around, not with something as precious and fragile as a human life. The current circumstances weren't nearly as drastic, but the principle still applied. This was no joking matter, so listen they would.

* * *

 _ **And, that's a wrap guys. This will mark the beginning of their Academy days, and the next chapter will be about them at their graduation. I thought I'd change up Mito's personality a bit. She's a granny, so yes, she shouldn't be so lively, but she's also an Uzumaki, and that should answer any other questions about her personality ha! Her relationship with Hiruzen is something of a mother-son relationship, but not really. I know I just contradicted myself there, but I don't know how else to make sense of it. At least, that's the way I portrayed their relationship, so I hope it was all right.**_

 _ **As for the class scene, I didn't go into too much detail because I feel a lot of it will be irrelevant for now, but I'll try going into some more detail next chapter during their graduation about the people in their class. They'll be closer by then, so hopefully you'll understand why I've kept it as short and sweet as I have. Don't worry though, I know things are flying by quite rapidly at the moment, but once things settle a bit after their graduation things will start progressing a little slower, and I'll finally be able to get some action in. I might even put some in next chapter... action and fight scenes were always my weak point, so hopefully I can write something that's good enough.**_

 _ **Also, there was a question about Naruto's personality essentially being the same as canon at the moment... my reasoning for that... he's still young, only eight, and he's an Uzumaki. While that doesn't mean more than he's simply energetic all the time, and for a lot longer than normal kids at that age, I feel like that's all the reasoning needed to write him up as he is for now. He will change and develop as he grows up though, due to the people he's gonna interact with and the fact that he's a medic nin which requires a certain amount of discipline etc. Also, the story isn't gonna be exactly the same as canon, I've already made plans to change certain things and interpret the timeline my own way, so some things may be different, but ultimately some things will also remain the same. I hope that answers any questions you may have had, or were thinking of asking.**_

 _ **Another quick heads up, there won't be another update for about a week because of my last exam, so sorry about that guys. Hope that doesn't disappoint too many... I hate disappointing people...**_

 _ **Don't forget though, if you have other questions, please drop a review or a PM. Reviews are obviously preferred though for obvious reasons... I mean what author doesn't like receiving reviews, am I right? Course I am! I'm not usually, but just this once I am, and I'd like some more reviews if you guys would care to oblige haha!**_

 _ **Ugh, sorry, it's late, I'm rambling, and I should be asleep so that I can get an early start on some studies tomorrow... with that being said, I bid you goodnight. Till next time.**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	4. Graduation Day

**_Here's the next chapter guys, last exam in a couple days and I felt like squeezing out another chapter, so hope you enjoy it! I'll leave you to the chapter then..._**

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 3_**

 _Graduation Day_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

"Okay class, settle down." The same chūnin, Tokimaru-sensei, stood tall behind his desk with a hand held up in the air, attempting to quell the chattery and jittery voices of his students. It had been two years since he'd started teaching this roudy bunch, and although they were more than likely the cause for the few strands of grey hairs that were slowly starting to form on his head, they had been a good class. They were good kids, and he had no doubt in his mind that they'd turn out to be even better shinobi. He was in the presence of more than a few prodigious children, and he was proud to have been their sensei through the Academy.

They'd lost more than a few students along the way, either to cold feet or their parents ultimately rescinding their decision to have their child become shinobi. Nevertheless, the talent in his class was undeniable, which is why he had nominated them all for an early graduation test. One would usually call Tokimaru-sensei out as being a touch overzealous, having more than a little _too_ much faith and confidence in his teaching abilities. But that was not the case here. These kids had taught him just as much as he'd taught them, so it was in his humble opinion that he'd approached the Hokage for permission to give his class the test. Which brought him to the reason for the proud smile on his face.

"Well done on the written portion of your exams yesterday, I'm proud to announce that everyone passed with flying colours!" There was a cacophony of cheers as the kids celebrated their success, and Tokimaru-sensei gave them their few minutes of glory before clapping his hands to get their attention. "All right, as you know, there are still two more legs to graduation: the taijutsu portion and the ninjutsu portion, the latter of which holds the highest weghting in your overall grade. That in mind, if you know you're weaker in ninjutsu than taijutsu, you'd better make damn sure you destroy the taijutsu portion!"

Tokimaru-sensei saw that he'd been gradually leaning more forward on his desk and had gotten quite passionate during his little rant, so he quickly cleared his throat and got back in his seat. "Ahem, as I was saying. Just make sure that you don't leave yourself with too much pressure to pass come that ninjutsu portion, otherwise you may not make it." Ending on that sobering note, he once more stood up from his desk and marched over to the classroom door, sliding it open and gesturing with his head for the kids to follow him. "Well, let's get started on that taijutsu portion then. Follow me class."

Naruto got up from his seat and followed the rest of his class as they were led to the back of the Academy in single file. He was walking behind a classmate he'd met sometime after they'd arrived at Konoha named Shibi. He was a member of Konoha's Aburame clan, and Naruto came to know quite quickly that that meant they kept to themselves for the most part. He always wore a pair of dark glass that had a single tassel hanging from the one side of the frame, and he was wearing a high-collared outfit that covered most of his body. That seemed to be one thing he and Shibi had in common, as Naruto's clothes left only his hands and head visible as well, and their reasons for such probably didn't vary too greatly either.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he glanced back to find the grinning form of his cousin Kushina walking behind him, her hands held behind her back innocently. "So... you ready to have your ass kicked? We both know taijutsu was never your strongest point 'ttebane." She couldn't have kept the smugness from entering her voice even if she tried, and the superior smirk she held only added to her cocksure countenance.

She wasn't wrong though, and he knew it. He was still a medic in training. Three quarters of his time spent training were spent on refining his medical ninjutsu, studying up on medical theory and working on his evasiveness as best he could. The last quarter he had left after that was for whatever was done at the Academy, involving general homework and ninjutsu practice, which he excelled at. After all the above was done, he was left with taijutsu as his last facet of the shinobi teachings to work on. It had been put on the backseat of his studies, so he effectively only had a backseat degree of skill in it.

That wasn't to say it was terrible. He definitely wasn't the worst at taijutsu in his class. Being a medic, he was fast and pretty agile. He needed to be if he never wanted to be hit while in the field. As the medic, if he went down, the rest of the squad would be put at a severe disadvantage. But his agility and speed didn't help much if he had no form to use it with. So he was definitely only passable at best. But for the time being, passable would work out for him just fine. He didn't need to be anything more than passable just yet. Still, he couldn't give his cousin the satisfaction of being right, so he dismissed her with a casual wave of his hand. "Just let me worry about my taijutsu Kushina, you just make sure to focus on your own."

Naruto turned his head to face the front fully again when Kushina's voice reached his ears. "How about a small wager?"

Naruto's interest piqued at the question. He'd made more bets with Kushina than he could ever remember, and in his luck, he'd one every single one. Not once had Kushina ever managed to cash in on a bet that had sprung up between the two. But that was the kicker. Naruto had been just that: lucky. His luck was bound to run out sooner or later. The odds weren't really stacked in his favour either. But to back down from a bet, against Kushina no less? Naruto's pride just wouldn't—couldn't—allow it, so he turned his head back around with a small grin on his face before slowing down and falling into step beside her. "I'm listening..."

Kushina's smile widened exponentially, and her eyes twinkled with opportunity. "Okay cousin, here's the deal: if you win your match up, no matter who it is, I'll pitch in half to help buy you that medicinal herbs and poison book—"

"How did you—"

"I have eyes, and I've seen the way you've looked at it when we've gone out shopping on more than one occasion."

Conceding to that, the redheaded male just nodded his head, a curious gleam in his eye. "Okay, I can't deny that, and you've got my attention. That's _if_ I win. What if I _lose_?"

Kushina's smile became devilish at that. "If you lose... you have to pitch in half to help buy me that sword I told you about. The practice bokken I brought with from Uzushio has been all good and well up till now, but I'm not planning on staying in this Academy another year. I don't have a proper sword and I'm gonna need one when I become a genin, and now is the perfect time to fix that. So, are you in?"

Naruto scrunched his face up in thought. In all honesty, neither he nor Kushina actually needed help paying for their respective items. They had enough money to buy their things themselves, albeit only just barely, but their was the added bonus of bragging rights. Something that held a lot more weight in the sibling-esque rivalry they had going on between them. Just as before, this wasn't just about the victory prize, this was about pride as well, and Naruto's would be the one taking a knock if he backed down. As much as he hated letting his pride get the better of him, this was something he just couldn't pass up. He held his fist out to his cousin and grinned at her challengingly. "You're on 'ttebayo."

Kushina pasted a similar grin on her own face, her fist meeting Naruto's in the middle. "Excellent. Good luck then Naruto. You're gonna need it."

And with that she fell back behind her cousin and into the single file they'd been in before, taking one more right turn before finally exiting the building and emerging into the morning sunlight. Naruto held his hand out above his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness of the outdoors, lining up along the edge of the rings that were set up outside. The rings were circular and outlined with thick red rope, and there was more than one ring set up outside. Two to be exact. Each had a chūnin instructor standing beside it, waiting patiently as Tokimaru-sensei once again requested everyone's attention with a quick clap of his hands.

"All right class, to speed up the process of conducting the taijutsu portion of the exam, we'll be running two spars simultaneously, each being graded by separate chūnin officials. To ensure the integrity of the grades, I shall not be an official myself. I will however watch the matches myself and add in my own feedback reports to be utilised by Hokage-sama."

Seeing that all the kids were hanging onto his every word, he raised his clipboard and moved along the line of students. "Okay, so would students Inoichi, Shibi, Kushina, Chōza, Yin, Minato, Shikaku and Naruto please make your way to the ring on the left. The rest of you are to make your way to the ring on the right. Wait for your names to be called by your respective chūnin instructors, and good luck to you all!"

With his final parting words said, the students all turned to their respective chūnin instructors and gave them their undivided attention. Naruto's group lined up by their ring, and the chūnin cleared his throat as the first two were called up. "Could Aburame Shibi and Akimichi Chōza please step into the ring."

Naruto watched as the two walked into the ring and both made the respective seal of confrontation before readying themselves in their respective stances. Naruto's eyes remained on the fight, but his mind was elsewhere. 'Shibi and Chōza are up first, which leaves me, Kushina, Minato, Yin, Inoichi and Shikaku. From what I've seen in previous spars, my two best options for a win are either Shikaku or Inoichi. Shikaku will most likely just throw the fight, and I wouldn't be able to ask for anything easier to win with. Inoichi on the other hand has some fight, but I feel like I could probably outlast him stamina-wise, wear him down before compensating on that and knocking him out the ring.'

His internal thoughts were halted as lo and behold his cousin pushed in beside him and poked him on the forehead, her earsplitting grin prominently on her face. "Don't go wear yourself out thinking too much before you even get in the ring. You're gonna need all the energy you can get if you wanna pull out a win here."

Naruto just swatted her hand away with a thin smile on his face. "Just leave winning my match to me. I know what I'm doing. Just be ready to pay up on our bet when I come out on top."

Kushina chuckled but nonetheless returned to her previous spot, leaving Naruto to his thoughts. That is until he was tapped on his left shoulder, his violet eyes meeting the dark eyes of Shikaku as he turned to the source of the disturbance. "Do I even wanna know why Kushina has such a mischievous grin on her face? She looks like she knows something that no one else does."

Naruto sighed softly as his brain continued working overtime. "We made a bet that—"

"On second thought, I don't wanna know. Troublesome redheads... there's always _something_ going on." Shikaku just pinched the bridge of his nose before dropping to the grass below, leaning back on his hands and deciding to watch the match from there. It was way more comfortable than standing, which everyone else still seemed to be doing for no apparent reason. Well if they wanted to stand, that was their prerogative. He was perfectly happy with sitting down.

Naruto just grinned good-naturedly at his friend that sunk to the ground before looking back to the fight. It wasn't long before it was over, and after performing the seal of reconciliation, the chūnin stepped forward again and looked down at his clipboard. "Could Uzumaki Naruto and Namikaze Minato please proceed to the ring."

Naruto's grin immediately dropped at that, and he didn't dare glance to his right. He knew for a fact that Kushina would be standing their with a victorious grin on her face. Damn her. He just so happened to have been pinned up against his worst possible match. The prodigious Minato, the top of their class in everything. This wasn't going to go down too well. But Naruto just sucked it up and decided he'd try his best. Even though luck hadn't been on his side for the pairings, maybe his luck would be rekindled for this next fight. 'I really hope that's the case. Kushina's gonna make sure I never forget this 'ttebayo!'

XxX

Naruto stood across from his opponent with a slightly nervous look in his eyes. Minato wasn't top of the class for nothing, so he definitely had his work cut out for him this fight. Naruto brought his right hand up into the seal of confrontation before readying himself into the standard Academy taijutsu stance.

Minato settled into the same stance, however his had noticeable differences in certain aspects. He'd definitely worked to improve upon it and make it his own, that much was certain. Nevertheless, the blonde-haired boy sent him an encouraging smile as he readied himself for the fight. "Let's do our best, Naruto."

Something in the way he said that immediately had Naruto's nerves calming, and he realised that regardless of the bet, that's all he really needed to do: his best. With that in mind and pushing Kushina's bet to the back of his mind, he relaxed a little in his rigid stance and smiled back at his opponent. "At the end of the day, that's all one can really ask for."

Having filled in all the necessary details, the chūnin brought his hand up before throwing it down. "Begin!"

Naruto didn't move a muscle. His taijutsu was weaker, so him running head first into a fight with Minato wouldn't do any good. He opted to rather sit back and wait for Minato to come to him. It didn't take long for Minato to notice that Naruto wouldn't be making the first move, so the blonde decided to get things started by rushing in at his opponent and throwing a few 'feeler' punches and jabs, doing his best to gauge his opponent. The two had only ever fought once before, and that had been the previous year, so a lot had definitely had to have changed since then.

As punch after punch came in at Naruto, he did his utmost best to duck and weave between each one. This was what he'd worked hard on during his studies, and it was clear that it was paying off. His evasive moves weren't as refined or fluid as they could be due to his lack of taijutsu form, but his speed seemed to be a little greater than Minato's actually, so it was balancing itself out, just enough that it seemed Minato would have a hard time trying to land a blow on the redhead.

One punch aimed for the redhead's face in particular overextended just a touch that it was noticeable, so making sure to capitalise on the fault, Naruto dropped into a crouch before using his momentum to swing his leg out and knock Minato on his ass. The kick connected and it seemed Naruto's quick thinking had paid off. But before the blonde's back could make contact with the ground, he leaned back a bit further before back flipping onto his feet and getting a good distance away from his opponent, an impressed smile on his face. "Well you've definitely gotten a little faster since the last time we sparred."

Naruto got himself into a ready stance while grinning at the blonde across from him. "To be fair, the last time we sparred _was_ over a year ago. But thanks all the same. You've gotten a little faster yourself."

Minato nodded his head as he himself lowered into his stance, a ghost of a smirk lighting his face. "You haven't seen anything yet." And with that the blonde launched back at Naruto even faster than before. The redhead managed to dodge the onslaught of punches and kicks that were thrown at him for about 20 good seconds before the speed and intensity completely overwhelmed him.

Punches and lightning fast jabs began connecting with Naruto's torso, each shot driving him back a little further and knocking just a little more wind out of his lungs. A particularly nasty uppercut to the stomach had the redhead doubling over, spittle escaping his mouth before a solid roundhouse kick from his right had his head spinning, his body connecting with the dirt below with a dull thud. The redhead felt like he could literally see stars circling his head, and his entire world spun as he struggled to get into a crouch, anything to keep moving and not leave himself wide open.

Shaking his head to relieve some of the lingering cobwebs, he eventually managed to get back onto shaky feet, his body swaying slightly from left to right as he continued to reel from the blow, spitting a glob of blood to the ground beside him. Looks like he had cut his gum. Great. 'Damn it... Minato really packs a punch, and he's even faster than me... I guess my so-called 'speed advantage' was never even legitimate. He was just testing me at the beginning, judging how much speed he'd need to use to overwhelm me. I have no doubt he could probably go faster, but he's using _just_ enough to get that edge over me. He doesn't waste any energy whatsoever. He really is a genius...'

Naruto shook his head a couple more times, his vision slightly hazy as he glanced across at his opponent who had the barest look of concern on his face. The match came first however, so Minato wouldn't let up until Naruto went down or conceded the fight. The redhead was an Uzumaki through and through though, and giving up just wasn't in their vocabulary. Finding that his vision was once again back to normal, he lowered back into his stance and spat another wad of blood and spit into the grass below.

The unspoken 'I'm ready' was all too clear to Minato, who once again lowered himself into his stance to ready for another exchange. This time he'd make sure the redhead stayed down. Another shot to the head like that and he doubted that Naruto would be able to get back up.

And start up again he did, sending punch after punch, jab after jab and kick after kick, doing everything he could to bring down his redheaded opponent. Again Naruto only managed to bob and weave through about 20 seconds worth of attacks before he began taking hits once again. Naruto was fast, but Minato was even more so. To a point of being ridiculous. And Naruto just couldn't keep up with the blonde's pace.

The redhead realised there was only one way he was possibly going to be able to land a hit, and when he did he was gonna need to make it count. He'd have to leave himself open and take a hit purposely, capitalising on Minato's close proximity to connect with a strike that would hopefully either knock him out, which was highly unlikely, or knock him out of the ring. With that plan in mind, Naruto let an open-palmed strike slip through his guard and connect with his chest.

The strike knocked him back a bit, and Naruto was ready to make his move, when Minato turned up the heat at the opening and decided he wanted to finally end things, his speed increasing even further. Another lightning fast uppercut planted itself in Naruto's stomach, once again driving the air out of his lungs and leaving him breathless. Minato's right leg came up in what the blonde was hoping to be the coup de grâce, but in a moment of chance, Naruto managed to catch the offending limb beneath his armpit, keeping an iron grip on the appendage.

Naruto was a bit confused as to what to do from his current position. The blonde was too far away to strike at his body, and Naruto doubted he could generate enough power into a strike to do enough damage to his opponent's leg. With that in mind, he began leaning back with all his body weight, intent on rolling backwards and launching Minato right out the ring with a kick. The blonde haired boy felt Naruto's intentions more than saw them, and hopping forward a few times on his left leg as he was pulled forward by Naruto, he lifted himself off the ground with a small jump and sent his foot into the redhead's stomach.

The dredges of air left in Naruto's stomach were forcefully removed, and Naruto's grip on Minato's right leg slackened to the point where he could no longer keep a hold of it. Having been freed from the confines of Naruto's vice-like grip, Minato once again jumped a little into the air and drop kicked the redhead, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying straight out the ring. Naruto skidded along the grass before coming to a stop a good few metres away from the ring. 'Ugh, that hurt like shit! I said it once and I'll say it again, Minato packs a helluva punch 'ttebayo!'

Naruto manoeuvred himself onto his hands and knees and coughed haggardly. His lungs were desperately seeking the oxygen that had so forcefully been removed from him, and his chest was burning with intense pain. Feeling a comforting hand pat his back, he turned his gaze skyward and found the concerned face of his blonde-haired opponent hovering over him. "Are you all right Naruto?"

The redhead slowly rolled himself over until he was sitting on his ass, keeping his upper body upright to try aid the flow of air into his lungs. "Y-Yeah... I think I'll be all right. Just need a moment to catch my breath. You hit as hard as ever though," he said with a breathless chuckle, sending himself into a small coughing fit. His chest started burning in pain once again, and he ran through a couple of hand seals before bringing his now glowing green hands up to his chest, the soothing healing chakra washing over him like a cool breeze.

Minato still looked a little concerned, but simply waited with intrigued eyes for Naruto to finish before offering the boy a hand, pulling him to his feet and walking beside him back to their group. "That was a great match. You almost had me at the end there when my leg was trapped under your arm. I thought for sure I was gonna be thrown out the ring."

Naruto scratched the back of his head bashfully, a thoughtful smile on his face. "I thought I had you too. I guess not, heh. You're still leagues above me in speed though. And my actual taijutsu... well, let's just say it could use some work."

Minato chuckled at that, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You're a medic-nin first, and your abilities in that far exceed anyone's at the Academy, the Konoha Hospital even. But all the fights aren't over yet, so let's go see how Kushina's doing against Inoichi. I'm sure she'll do great."

Naruto didn't miss the way Minato's smile brightened _just_ that much more at the mention of his cousin, but he didn't say anything on it. He was however reminded of Kushina, and his thoughts turned to their bet. 'Damn, Kushina won the bet! Or rather, I lost it. But against Minato, there really wasn't anything more that I could do. I guess my luck had to run out sometime. I guess you win this time Kushina.'

Naruto lifted his head just in time to see his cousin launch Inoichi out the ring much like he had been moments ago, wincing at the impact and distance he flew. 'Yeah, Minato hits hard, but Kushina definitely takes the cake. No doubt about it.'

XxX

Naruto sat at the back of the class in his usual seat with a massive grin on his face, a hitai-ate now proudly tied on his forehead. He along with the rest of his class had all passed their genin exam. Most of them had already basically passed solely on their grades from the written exam and their taijutsu portion, with Minato being the only one to have scored perfectly in both portions and therefore already having passed. The ninjutsu portion had simply been a formality for him, but he aced that any ways and proudly donned the title of 'Rookie of the year'.

Naruto himself had aced the ninjutsu portion as well. His chakra control was more than refined for the three basic Academy level ninjutsu, and he received extra credit due to the fact that he was also able to utilise the _Sh_ ō _sen Jutsu_ _ **(Mystical Palm Technique)**_. He didn't need the extra credit however, but simply accepted it. It wouldn't hurt to have a little extra credit under his belt. Turning to his right, Naruto clapped his snoring friend on the back and grinned broadly. "Well Shikaku, colour me impressed, but I didn't think you'd make it this far."

Said Nara grumbled softly as he was woken from his precious nap, a small glare being sent Naruto's way for the interruption to his sleep. "Troublesome redhead. I think I need to start wearing a 'Do not disturb' sign around my neck for all the good lying on my arms _and_ snoring seems to do. Most people would notice I'm sleeping and leave me in peace."

Naruto just chuckled at his friend's expense. "Yeah, well I'm not most people. Besides, there's such a thing as too much sleep."

The Nara simply snorted and lay his head back atop his arms, his muffled voice barely reaching Naruto's ears. "Well it's a good thing I'm only resting my eyes then."

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say." Naruto was about to call out to Inoichi on the other side to help back him up, but the door to the class sliding open drew his attention, his sensei walking in and standing behind his desk.

"All right class, congratulations on becoming genin! I'm proud to have been your sensei these last two years. We've encountered our fair share of speed bumps along the way, but we made it, and a whole two years in advance to boot! You're a promising group, so you guys must do your best to stick together and watch each others' backs." He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket before turning to the board behind him and scribbling up a message. "You guys are to meet here tomorrow at 8 o'clock sharp for your team placements, and then you're officially out of my hands. Once again, congratulations, and I'll see you all tomorrow. Class dismissed!"

The kids in Naruto's class slowly began shuffling out, their sensei included, until a soft pat on his shoulder brought him out of his reverie. Turning to his left, he found his cousin Kushina grinning at him victoriously, her arms crossed over her chest. "So, Naruto... how about we go cash in on that bet huh? I'd like to give my sword a few practice swings before tomorrow."

Naruto just hung his head and followed his cousin, softly shaking his head. 'Well, at least she isn't rubbing it in my face. It's a small consolation if nothing else.'

* * *

 _ **And, that's a wrap my fellow readers! What did you think? Like I said, I put some fighting in here for you guys. Like I also said, fight scenes were never my strong point, so let me know what you thought. I'm no martial artist in any sense of the word, and coming up with fight scenes is quite difficult for me. Nevertheless, I hope this one was somewhat passable, ha!**_

 ** _I'd just like to point out what Minato did in here as well, and that's that Naruto is a medic-nin first. At the moment, he's still in training, and is pouring all his time into that. I know his taijutsu may be weak now, but it won't always be, so don't worry about Naruto being a pansy, because that's not how I plan to keep him. Also, he's quite fast, but Minato is more so, well, because he's Minato, and his speed wasn't only attested to his use of the Hiraishin, at least in my opinion._**

 ** _This spells the end of their time at the Academy, and you'll be seeing team placements in the next chapter! I'm not gonna give anything away, and you guys are more than happy to take guesses and swings at the teams, I'll be more than entertained to see what some of you come up with. I've unfortunately already come up with their teams, so if they're not in one that you wanted, please don't be too disappointed._**

 ** _Any ways, that's pretty much it for this chapter, so after my last exam in a couple days I'll see about positing the next one up this weekend sometime maybe! Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day/night, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know in a review or a PM, and favourite or follow if you feel you wanna read more as I keep writing! It really helps to encourage me to write more._**

 ** _On a quick unrelated note, for those who were quite disappointed with the fact that this wasn't going to be a Naruto/Kushina pairing, I went out and found one for you guys just as a kind of consolation. If you haven't read it, give it a read. I follow the author and have read some his stories, mostly the Naruto/Fairy Tail Xovers though, but nevertheless, there's some Naruto/Kushina there for you if you like: Icha Icha Vacation by Xenter._**

 ** _But that's it from my side guys, sorry for the long AN! Till next time..._**

 ** _ShadowedNara_**


	5. Team Assemble!

**_Hey guys, I'm still here, but I ran into some problems over my holidays which I'll explain at the bottom, so refer to that please. Otherwise, enjoy the chapter, I didn't find it to be one of my best, but I may just be being over critical... you decide. Any ways, as you were..._**

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 4_**

 _Team... Assemble!_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

Graduation was over, they'd all passed, and tomorrow they'd be getting assigned to a team, a three-man cell consisting of three genin and one jōnin. Naruto was quite nervous about who he'd be put on a team with, but in all honesty, his entire class had graduated in two years. They were more than capable as shinobi, so whoever he ended up with was of no consequence. He'd prefer getting stuck on a team with Kushina though. Even though she could be a bit much sometimes, she was family, and Naruto would much prefer keeping her close than not knowing if anything had happened to her.

It was early afternoon in Konoha, the streets still filled with civilians and shinobi alike as Naruto and his redheaded cousin walked down the streets. There was a soft breeze combing the streets, and it helped to abate some of the stifling heat from the sun that hung high in the sky above. Although that heat could also be attributed to his layers of clothing, but that was neither here nor there.

They were walking at a reasonable pace as they made their way over to the nearest shinobi weapons store, Kushina intent on settling the score of their bet immediately. Naruto had no problems with that himself, and honestly just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. His boisterous cousin was starting to get a little overbearing.

"It's all right though Naruto. After this, you'll be back to beating me in bets just like before," she stated matter-of-factly, a noticeable skip in her step as they bounded on. "But for now, be ready with that cash of yours, we're going to get me a sword 'ttebane!"

Naruto just dragged his hand down his face in exasperation before his face visibly brightened at the sight ahead of them. "Hey, there's a store. 'Shinobi Surplus'. Sounds perfect! Let's go," he said urgently, nudging his cousin into the shop and hurrying her along as fast as he could.

Kushina sputtered incoherently as she was forcibly pushed into the store, and she was seconds away from turning around and snapping at her cousin with a solid fist or two. The sight of the weapons around the shop though silenced her. Naruto himself nearly fell flat on his face as Kushina suddenly disappeared from in front of him, the restrictive force he'd been pushing against now gone and venturing around somewhere else in the store, more than likely looking for that sword of hers.

He didn't dare go find her now though, for fear of potential backlash from almost throwing her into the shop. Rather give her some time to cool down and possibly forget it ever happened. Instead, he decided he'd scope the store himself as he waited, indulge a little in all the weapons that were located around the shop. He wasn't much into weapons personally, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself a little with all the tools of destruction around him.

The shop itself wasn't too big, but it was by no means small either. It was lined with more than five shelves that were longer than five metres, each sporting a different type of weapon, as well as racks of shinobi clothing and armour hanging off along the walls. Most of these weapons he'd never seen before. Or rather, some of which he'd never seen an actual shinobi use in combat before. Granted, he hadn't actually spent a day in the field yet, because of only having graduated the previous day and what not. But he'd seen enough action in training grounds or around the village, and a lot of these weapons were only being seen by him for the first time.

A lot of them seemed quite impractical as well. Carrying on down the aisle, he came across several mace-like weapons splayed out over a section of one shelf. Admittedly battles weren't always only long-range, and close quarters combat did happen quite often, but the weight of the weapon and its use just didn't seem effective to Naruto. He carried on aisle after aisle, eyeing each new weapon that he'd come across, seeing different types of kunai as well. Kunai with blades on both ends, curved kunai, matte black coated kunai to blend in with the darkness of night if it was so desired.

There was more than one aisle for swords however, a larger variety of that weapon existing than any other. It was in this next aisle however where he saw a familiar head of hair observing the blades hanging from the wall and layed out over the shelves. It wasn't the red hair of his cousin however. "Yin?"

She was an average heighted girl with dark green eyes and pale-blue hair that was tied up in a high ponytail with a dark ribbon with two shoulder length bangs framing her face, and one large centre strand covering her forehead. She was wearing a skimpy sleeveless shirt adorned with some light curved motifs on the chest and a pair of leather shorts with blue shinobi sandals. There were bandages on her right leg and both shins descending to her ankles, as well as some bandages around her left forearm. Her fingernails and toenails were coloured in a light purple colour, and she wore her hitai-ate around her waist like a belt.

She was one of Naruto's classmates who had graduated alongside him and the rest of his class. He had spoken with her many times before, and although they weren't friends, not spending time with each other outside of the Academy whatsoever, she definitely fell into the category of casual acquaintance. She was always very bright and had quite a bubbly personality, that glistening smile ever present on her face. Naruto often felt that maybe she was too caring and kind for the shinobi life, but she'd passed along with the rest of them, so she was definitely worth her salt.

The aforementioned girl turned at the sound of her name, a bright smile on her face. "Hey Naruto! What are you doing here? You never struck me as the type to be into weapons much."

Naruto smiled back at her, her bright disposition immediately having an effect on him. "Well you see, Kushina and I kind of made this bet, and I lost, so we're here to cash in her winnings so to speak." Naruto ended his explanation with a sheepish smile, glancing away from the pale-blue-haired girl momentarily in embarrassment.

Yin brought a hand up to her mouth and tried her best to stifle her giggles, though the attempt seemed to be in vain. "Sorry Naruto, I don't mean to laugh. It's just, there's always something happening between you and Kushina."

Naruto smiled genially as he heard that. "You know, Shikaku said something very similar to that. I guess it must be true then huh?"

Yin giggled again and was about to respond when a voice called out to her, grabbing both her and her classmate's attention. "Hey Yin, I found just what we were looking for. It's perfect for you—"

A tall man with long pale-blue hair that reached his back stepped out from around the shelves. He had dark green eyes, and he was wearing the standard Konoha shinobi outfit with a pocket-less flak jacket and his hitai-ate around his forehead, his fringe covering most of the Konoha symbol. Upon seeing the two, he smiled kindly and nodded his head in greeting. "Who's your friend Yin?"

Naruto's classmate quickly stepped out a bit so he and the tall man could face each other, and she quickly began introductions. "Aniki, this is one of my classmates I graduated with yesterday, Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, this is my big brother Dan."

The now-named Dan bowed to the red-haired boy, his smile never leaving his face. "It's a pleasure to meet one of Yin's fellow classmates. Congratulations on your early graduation as well."

Naruto smiled bashfully as he returned the bow, though he shook his hands from side to side as if to lessen the praise he was receiving. "It's a pleasure to meet you to Katō-san. And thanks. You must be very proud of Yin though. She was one of the top kunoichi graduates I think."

Yin seemed to shrink into herself a little from the praise, and Dan just chuckled softly at his younger sister's sudden shyness. "That I am. It's actually the reason for our visit here today. I've been teaching her kenjutsu, so I decided it was time to come get her a blade before she's assigned to a team tomorrow." He pulled said blade from behind his back, and he slowly removed a bit of the blade to show his sister and Naruto. "It's a shortened chokutō, shortened for obvious reasons. It's okay Yin, I'm sure you'll grow some more someday."

Naruto chuckled softly as the big brother teased his little sister, Yin seeming to shrink a little further in on herself from embarrassment. "Aniki..." the pale blue-haired girl whined, her cheeks burning a vibrant red.

The tall man quickly replaced the blade and gave Naruto a small pat on the shoulder. "Any ways, it was nice to meet you Naruto. Yin and I still have a few more errands to run though, so we really must be going."

Naruto nodded as the two siblings began moving to the front of the store to pay for their purchase. "It was nice to meet you too Katō-san. I'll see you tomorrow Yin!" His classmate waved brightly at him before turning back around and following her brother to pay for her sword. Naruto decided it was time to find Kushina, and moved to the last aisle of the store. It was there he found her with a look of intense concentration on her face, holding two swords in her hands, seemingly weighing them up against each other.

Naruto raised his hand to utter something, though a quick 'shh' from Kushina halted him before he could. A few seconds of silence passed before she put the one sword down and turned to Naruto with a massive grin on her face, showing him her choice. It was also quite a short sword, maybe a little longer than Yin's chokutō, but it had a square guard where as Yin's had no guard. "It's a ninjatō, and this is just what I need. So let's head on over and pay for this bad-boy. I wanna go cut something 'ttebane," she muttered with a dark chuckle, a maniacal grin on her face as her eyes were suddenly overshadowed by her forehead.

Naruto gulped softly though said nothing and just began walking to the front of the store, waiting for Kushina to join him before giving her the required money and waiting outside for her to finish up. 'Damn... Kushina was scary enough without a sword, and there's no telling how scary she's gonna get now that she has one... damn it, Shikaku was right... she's only gonna get more troublesome! And stabby!'

* * *

 _The Academy, the next day..._

* * *

Bright and early was the required time to meet at the Academy, and all the students from Naruto's class were present and accounted for, each young shinobi now proudly sporting a hitai-ate tied around their desired locations. Everyone was chatting animatedly with each other, though conversations were brought to a grinding halt as their sensei entered the class room, a light smile on his face and a clipboard in his hand.

"Well guys, I'm afraid this will officially be the last time we'll ever meet like this. From this point on you're all genin, and you'll be in the care of your jōnin sensei. Which brings me to the reason for our last meeting." He slowly held up the clipboard a little higher for the class to see and grinned a little wider. "It's time for team placements!"

The whispers and soft chattering started up again after their sensei's announcement, but a raising of the hand was all it took for the class to once again be brought into silence. Clearing his throat, Tokimaru-sensei once again had all the students' attention, prompting him to begin. "All right, Teams 1 and 2 are already in circulation, so we'll begin at Team 3. This team will consist of..."

Naruto effectively tuned out his sensei for the time being, either not caring or not being interested in which ever team wasn't his. His mind was elsewhere however, running through possibilities for who his team would be made up of. His whole class was filled with prodigious children from all over, so team placements had to have been more than a little difficult for his generation.

Naruto was pulled from his musings by a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to his right to regard his spiky black-haired friend. "Listen up you troublesome redhead. There's only six students left that haven't been put into teams yet, and you and I both fall into those six, so next up is our teams. I'm already almost 100 percent sure we won't be on the same team though, but for what it's worth... actually no, I'm glad I'm not on your team. Troublesome redhead... trouble seems to find you like a magnet."

Naruto snorted sarcastically at that, turning back around to the front of the class. "Gee, thanks a bunch Shikaku. I really appreciate the sentiment."

The lazy Nara just bowed his head softly. "Don't mention it."

Naruto was about to retort when his name being called drew his attention, his focus now completely on his sensei. "Uzumaki Naruto, Katō Yin and Namikaze Minato. You guys will be team 8, and your sensei is Jiraiya. Team 9 is also still in circulation, so we'll move on to Team 10, who will consist of Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Chōza, with Sarutobi Kotetsu as your sensei."

The class once again erupted into soft chatters as each student began looking around the class for their respective team members. It was clear as day to see that everyone in the class was excited, and it brought a proud smile to the face of Tokimaru-sensei. "I just want to express how proud I am of each and every one of you, and it's been an honour to be your sensei these past two years. From here on out, I am officially no longer your sensei, and your new team sensei's will be here to fetch you guys within the next half an hour, so I recommend you all wait in your new teams. All that's left to say is congratulations, and one more good luck for the road. Feel free to pay your old sensei a visit every now and again, otherwise, this is where we part ways. Again, thanks for a good two years."

Their sensei bowed lowly, an action that was reciprocated by every student in the class before the sound of the door sliding closed, signalling his exit. Looking to his left, Naruto gave Kushina an encouraging smile. "This is it Kushina. No more messing around. We're genin now, time to start acting like it."

His cousin just snorted, giving him a soft punch to the arm, a small gentle smile lighting up her face. The reassuring gesture brought a smile to Naruto's face as well. "Be careful Naruto. I'll see you back at home."

With that she got up and sought out her team, the other students following suit and beginning their own shuffling as they moved into their respective teams. Looking down at the seats in front of him, Naruto found Yin's smiling face one row below staring back up at his. "Well come on down, you're not going to make a _lady_ get up, are you?"

Naruto just smiled bashfully before getting up and sliding up on her left, and it wasn't long before Minato had siddled up on her right. Naruto gave the boy a nod of greeting. "Well I guess we're Team 8 guys. Even though I've been here for a little less than two years, I'm still quite new to the village. That being said, I don't suppose you guys know anything about our new sensei Jiraiya?"

Yin looked thoughtful for a moment before Minato on her right grunted in affirmation. "He was a student of the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen along with Orochimaru and Senju Tsunade, all extremely talented and elite jōnin of the village. I don't think we could've asked for a better sensei. Though to be honest, I have no idea what he looks like," he admitted sheepishly, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

Yin nodded at this before smiling at her two new teammates. "So, we've got an awesome sensei, a genius speedster, a prodigious medic, and a, uhm—"

"A kenjutsu master," Naruto added helpfully, winking at her confused expression.

"But you've never even seen me use a sword before!"

"Yeah, but I'm sure you're incredible! Your brother's one of the elite jōnin of the village as well isn't he?"

"I agree with Naruto and I trust his judgement," Minato injected with a small smile, Yin's own smile visibly brightening. "So that makes an awesome sensei, a genius speedster, a prodigious medic, _and_ a kenjutsu master."

"May as well put us down as legends to-be while they're at it," the pale blue-haired girl added with a small giggle, drawing a few chuckles from her other group members as well. "In any event, thanks for having faith in me guys."

Naruto grinned widely at that, giving his two peers a quick once over. "Hey, we're teammates now, so we'll always have each other's backs."

"Well isn't this just adorable," a deep voice echoed from in front of the three, immediately grabbing their undivided attention. However upon glancing around the class, they found nobody else present, and they realised they were the only team still left inside, something which came as a bit of a shock to the trio. But still, that voice had to have belonged to someone, which kept all three team members on high alert, their eyes darting in every possible direction to find the source of the voice.

Before they could ponder further on the location of the voice however, there was a distortion in the air at the front of the class, and a figure suddenly materialised from nothing as if invisible, leaning against the teacher's desk with a casual nonchalance. He was a tall man with long spiky white hair which was tied into a pony tail that descended halfway down his back. He had two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face, with red lines that ran down from his eyes. He was wearing a green short kimono with matching pants, under which he wore mesh armour that extended out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. He was also wearing hand guards and traditional geta sandals, with a simple black belt to finish off his kimono.

"Who are you?" Yin questioned suspiciously, her eyes narrowed at the man that suddenly appeared before them.

The man in question pouted in mock hurt, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. "Is that any way to greet your possible new sensei for the foreseeable future?"

"You're Jiraiya?" the pale blue-haired girl questioned with wide eyes, swallowing down her embarrassment for being so disrespectful to the man who was going to be their sensei. Her brother had taught her better than to be so blatantly rude! But still, her initial abrasiveness was not without reason given his sudden appearance.

The man simply nodded, but didn't manage to get a word out before another voice spoke up. "What do you mean 'possible' new sensei?" the spiky haired blonde asked slowly, his own eyes narrowed slightly as his mind began trying to process the possibilities of his question.

"And where's your hitai-ate?" the final member of the group spoke, Naruto's violet eyes piercing the charcoal blacks of their apparent sensei.

All three students stared at the man expectantly, waiting for him to answer before he suddenly began chuckling in amusement, unfolding his arms and clapping his hands a couple of times. "Well well, I'm impressed. Sarutobi-sensei wasn't kidding about this year's graduates. You guys are definitely something else."

"You never answered the questions yet, Jiraiya- _sensei_ ," Naruto intoned evenly, his eyes still fixed firmly on the man. His suspicion of the man himself was mostly gone, save for the fact that he had no visible hitai-ate, but Minato's question had opened up an entirely new can of worms, and Naruto's own mind was whirring with the possible reasons for Jiraiya having said what he did.

Jiraiya's smile never dropped though, and he slowly unfolded his arms as he hopped up onto the desk behind him. "I'll answer your questions in a moment, but how's about we start off with introductions shall we? I feel like we sort of got off on the wrong foot here."

Naruto snorted sarcastically, though it was Yin who decided to speak up first. "Guess I'll go first then. My name is Katō Yin. I like spending time with my friends and my brother, and I enjoy practising kenjutsu. My dream is to one day become a great shinobi just like my brother."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful as he stared at Yin, and he nodded curtly before his gaze panned over to the redhead of the trio. "You next."

Naruto sighed softly before speaking up as instructed. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like talking with my friends, messing with my cousin and reading up on new medical procedures. My hobbies include gardening and fūinjutsu, and my dream is to become a great medic ninja and help save lives."

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully at this while stroking his chin, a soft hum permeating the class as his eyes glanced over to the final member of the trio. "Not bad. Last up."

The spiky haired blonde stood up from his seat and held one hand over his chest as he spoke. "My name is Namikaze Minato. I like training and spending time with my friends. My hobby is reading and my dream is to be acknowledged by the whole village and become a great Hokage."

Jiraiya's expression was once again thoughtful, and the silence after Minato's introduction dragged on for an uncomfortable amount of time. The white-haired man's face betrayed nothing as he continued staring in their general direction, his rising and falling chest the only thing moving.

It was after a couple of silent minutes that their pale blue-haired teammate suddenly cleared her throat and decided to break the silence. "So uhm, aren't you going to introduce yourself sensei?"

Jiraiya's face suddenly broke out into a massive grin as he instantly jumped to his feet. "I thought you guys would never ask!" Waving his hands around him in dramatic kabuki poses, their white-haired sensei began his introduction. "I'm the travelling hermit whose name is known far and wide across these Elemental Nations! My name strikes fear into the eyes of my enemies, and drives arrows of adoration into the hearts of my many fans! Women from all over worship me at the mere mention of my awesome tales and adventures! I'm the gallant, the fearless, the courageous, the one and only Gama Sennin of Mount Myōboku... Jiraiya!"

His enthusiastic introduction was finished off with him slamming his hands onto the ground and being enveloped in a cloud of smoke, his form appearing atop a desk-sized toad not a moment later with his hands spread out in opposite directions, the toad doing its utmost best to mimic the actions of its summoner.

A terse silence followed after the man's introduction, and each student was left in a similar state of bewilderment. The slack-jawed expressions each kid was wearing gave Jiraiya the impression that he'd completely blown them away with his, in his own _humble_ opinion, stellar introduction. Smiling broadly to himself, the man dispelled the toad beneath his feet and placed a small slip of paper in front of each of his students. "Don't worry my precious students, you are not the first people to be rendered absolutely speechless by my awesomeness! This concludes our meeting for now. On those slips of paper are the details for a... 'training exercise', I've got planned for tomorrow, so don't be late! Your futures as genin depend on it, so I'll see you in the morning!"

A puff of smoke later and the man had disappeared, the three kids still stuck in a daze of bewilderment. It was Naruto who managed to come to first, shaking his head a little to try rid himself of that abomination of an introduction. "'Couldn't have asked for a better sensei' you say, huh?"

Minato's jaw slowly closed again as his eyes continued to stare in the spot Jiraiya had been standing, his mouth closing with a soft gnashing of his teeth. "All... all the shinobi greats have their eccentricities... I stand by what I said."

"You don't sound quite so sure of yourself anymore Minato."

They once again lapsed into a momentary silence before Yin rising from her seat and pocketing her slip of paper broke it, her face slowly morphing into a smile. "Say what you will, but I like him. I'm actually a little excited for tomorrow. I can't wait to see what he's got planned!"

"'Excited' wouldn't be the word I'd use," Minato replied softly, his face scrunched up in thought.

"What are you thinking?" It was Naruto that asked the question, his eyes studying Minato's thoughtful expression. Their fellow blonde clearly knew something they didn't, but he seemed a little reluctant to speak his mind.

"I don't know, but make sure you two come prepared to tomorrow's... _exercise_ , as he put it. I have a feeling we'll need to be."

Nothing more was said between the three save for a quick goodbye, each grabbing their slip of paper and making their way back to their respectful homes. They'd just have to wait until tomorrow to find out whatever their sensei had in store for them. Considering the white-haired man's boisterous and overzealous personality, it promised to be quite entertaining to say the least.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys, that marks chapter 5 of JFO, technically chapter 4 if you discount the prologue. Just a bit of an explanation for why I've been out of things for so long... obviously I went on holiday overseas, had a whale of time, got a nice tan, and obviously while there I had no pc and barely any internet access, so not much writing went on during my holidays. Then once I got back, my pc had decided to pack up and I lost everything that was on them, so I had to start most of the chapters from scratch again, which put a real damper on my motivation, because I feel like this chapter and the other couple I had written were good as they could be, so having to rewrite them makes me feel like they're not as good as I had them before... it was quite discouraging to say the least :(**_

 _ **But I decided to give it another go so that I could work past those chapters, so I've got one here for you guys. I don't feel like it's quite up to scratch, but like I said, that could just be me being over-critical. Any ways, for this chapter we find Naruto coming into contact with Dan, Tsunade's lover from way-back-when. I also have them in a team under Jiraiya... please don't shoot me for the team choices, I've got plans for things to come so the way I have it is necessary. Also, Kushina's team isn't too important at the moment which is why I've left them out... to be honest, I don't really have a team for them, so I'm just gonna keep everyone ignorant about that and skirt around it like the (hopefully) skilled writer I am, ha!**_

 _ **It was another sort of filler chapter with not much, but next chapter should see some more action, in which Jiraiya will, yes, you guessed it, give them the bell test. Why wouldn't he? It was given to him by his sensei so he feels it would be best... and Minato had to get the idea for the bell test from somewhere when he used it on his team in canon, so yeah, Jiraiya definitely gave them the bell test in canon, so he will as well in this story. Hopefully that's not too boring for you guys, but it's not too important in the grand scheme of things.**_

 _ **Also, one last note, if you guys see any kind of spelling/grammar/punctuation error, please, please, please... let me know, because it really bugs me if there are mistakes that I miss, because I beta my own chapters... so one last time, please try point them out to me... I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it really really bothers me! Please and thanks!**_

 _ **Review, favourite, follow, PM me, let me know your guys' thoughts etc, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, till next time.**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	6. Got Guts?

_**Hey guys, here's the next chapter, let me know what you think. I'm hoping to improve my review count and get some more story follows and favourites, so don't be shy, ha! Enjoy!**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 5_**

 _Got Guts?_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

The vibrant chirping of all different kinds of birds greeted the trio of genin from Team 8 as they slowly filtered into Training Ground 3 as requested by their sensei. It was still fairly early in the morning, and there was still a noticeable bite in the air, something some would call chilly, while others would call it refreshing.

The training ground itself was nothing special with a trio of training posts located in its centre with a small stream of water passing through on the outskirts of the field. The soft green grass was still moist and covered in a layer of dew from the night before, and the entire field itself was surrounded on all sides by the trees that were so commonly found around Hi no Kuni.

Naruto stifled a small yawn as he slowly ambled into the training ground, spotting his other two teammates and making his way over to the duo. "Morning. Wonderful day for a little early morning exercise wouldn't you say?"

The sarcasm in the redhead's voice was unmissable, but the pale blue-haired girl simply waved him off with a bright grin. "Oh don't be like that Naruto. Come on, liven up and breathe in that fresh morning air! It's so invigorating."

"I guess," he answered with a shrug, moving from the shade into the warm rays of the sun and stretching his hands over his head, a few clicks of his bones sounding out like music to his ears. "Ah, now that hits the spot."

Yin just shook her head before adjusting the sword on her back. Even though she'd been training in kenjutsu for as long as she could remember, it was still quite a foreign feeling having a sword strapped to her back. It would definitely take her a little bit of time to get used to. Glancing to her right, she found the blonde-haired member of their team leaning up against the centre training post, his face once again looking pensive. "Ryo for your thoughts Minato?"

The blonde turned his gaze in her direction and gave her a small smile, pushing himself off the training post and walking over to his other two teammates. "I was just thinking again about what Jiraiya said yesterday about being our 'possible' new sensei. The only thing _that_ leads me to believe is that there's going to be some kind of circumstance that determines whether or not he actually takes us on as our sensei. Like some kind of test. Or 'exercise', as he put it. With us failing resulting in him not becoming our sensei. Or something along those lines."

This gave Naruto pause, and his face took on a thoughtful look of his own. Minato as usual was right, and the whole thing did seem a little off. The secrecy of it all led Naruto to believe that Minato was likely bang on the money with his assumption.

Yin however never dropped her smile and threw her arms around both boy's shoulders, pulling them in close so that each of their heads were touching. "Stop thinking about it so much! Otherwise you're gonna create a problem that's not even there in the first place! We're a team now. Whatever he's got planned, we tackle it together, have each other's backs, and I'm almost sure everything will turn out the way it's supposed to."

Naruto and Minato couldn't argue with that, and a genuine smile slowly replaced both boys' thoughtful frowns from earlier. "Haha, you know what, you're right! Like you said yesterday: we've got a genius speedster, a kenjutsu master and a prodigious medic. We've got this 'ttebayo!"

Before anything more could be said, a puff of smoke alerted them to the arrival of the man they'd been waiting for, in all his white-haired glory. " _Gooood morning_ , my soon-to-be genin! I trust we all had a good night's sleep, hm?"

"As good as any I suppose," Naruto answered lazily, feeling a little like his friend Shikaku for a few seconds. 'Note to self: need to stop hanging around Shikaku so much... his sleeping habits are beginning to rub off on me.'

"We're ready for whatever exercise you've got for us sensei!" Yin exclaimed excitedly, throwing a small fist into the air.

The enthusiasm from the pale blue-haired girl was infectious, and a broad grin broke out on Jiraiya's own face. "That's the spirit! I'm glad to hear it. In that case, let's get this show on the road shall we?" The man reached into his kimono and pulled out a pair of bells, tying the bells to his waist for each student to see. "Okay gakis, so here's how this is gonna work. All you have to do is try and take these bells from me."

"That's all good and well sensei, but there's only two bells." Although it was Minato who voiced the obvious 'hole' in the test, the same thought had been on each genin's mind the moment their sensei mentioned the bells.

Jiraiya himself just grinned devilishly, his voice several decibels softer as he slowly backtracked to the centre of the field. "Well that's the crux of the matter now isn't it? It goes without saying that whoever doesn't get a bell, will be sent back to the Academy." Yin's face fell at the revelation, and the two male genin's frowns deepened considerably. Minato looked like he was ready to disagree once again, but Jiraiya wasn't about to give him the chance to spring his entire 'exercise' before it even began. The boy really was a genius, and extremely shrewd for his age, that much was certain. Best to keep him on his toes so he had less time to stew on it. "So without further adieu, begin!"

Despite Jiraiya having started the exercise, each genin had yet to move. They'd all tensed in their stances and seemed a lot more ready to spring into action if they needed to, but they were all still lined up perfectly beside one another, staring their sensei down. Jiraiya heaved a small sigh at this before loosening up his shoulders and grinning seriously at the trio. "Well, if you won't come at me then I'll just come at you!"

The white-haired man leapt forward and ran at the centre genin, his first target the pale blue-haired member of the team. The girl's eyes widened a fraction as Jiraiya suddenly advanced on her, and before she knew it she was being forced to outmanoeuvre fists and feet that were being thrown at her in rapid succession. The punches and kicks themselves were slowly picking up speed as well, and she was struggling to maintain her backpedaling. Their sensei was also keeping her from reaching for her sword with his fast paced movements. It was making her slightly worried.

Suddenly though a tuft of blonde hair appeared in her peripherals, and Jiraiya was forced to dodge a sweeping kick to the head as Minato sped into action. Yin wasn't able to keep up with the speed of her teammate himself, and she was given a moments reprieve as Minato continued trying to hit Jiraiya, the two now moving faster than she could imagine. The battle was slowly moved away from her direct position, and she was immediately thankful, reaching for her sword and making sure to be ready for next time.

It wasn't long though before Minato was thrown away from Jiraiya, her teammate skidding quickly along the moist grass. The white-haired man wasn't given long to admire his work as the redhead on the team began his assault, also moving at a speed greater than hers. She could at the very least still keep up with Naruto, but he was definitely in a speed class above her own as well.

Naruto continued throwing punch after punch at their new sensei, but seemed to be coming short each time. Jiraiya was able to expertly and gracefully weave his way in and out of every shot that was taken at him. He wasn't moving as fast as he was though when he'd been fighting Minato, and it seemed he was adjusting his speed and skills to that of the fighter he was currently engaged with.

A particularly close punch grazed the material of Jiraiya's kimono, and Naruto clicked his tongue in mild annoyance. "Why don't you just stand still and let me hit you?"

Jiraiya let out a hearty laugh as he immediately stopped in his tracks and folded his arms, grinning mockingly at the redhead as he held his ground. "All you had to do was ask gaki!"

Naruto's eyes widened as the man stood tall and proud before him with his arms folded and his guard down. The redhead's face quickly switched from one of shock to a knowing smirk, the Uzumaki going through five hand signs in rapid succession before sending an open-palmed strike at Jiraiya, his hand quickly becoming coated in a layer of chakra. "I figured as much! _Chakura no Mesu_ _ **(Chakra Scalpel)**_ _!_ "

Jiraiya's face fell as the redhead made contact with his upper left arm, severing his deltoid muscle and a fraction of his bicep. The arm immediately fell limp to the white-haired man's side, and Naruto grinned in victory at one-upping the man. That is, until the 'man' turned into mud and slowly began melting onto the grass below, signifying the use of a _Doton: Kage Bunshin_ _ **(Earth Release: Shadow Clone)**_.

Naruto cursed his bad luck. That was his one and only opening he had that he needed to make count. Jiraiya hadn't known of Naruto's ability, and it was the perfect opportunity to make use of the white-haired man's cocksure attitude to land a debilitating blow on him. At least now Naruto knew _why_ the man was so cocksure. It hadn't even _been_ him in the first place. He doubted he'd be underestimated by Jiraiya again and get such a clean opening.

"That was a good try gaki," the man suddenly spoke up from behind Naruto, appearing from the nearby tree line. "Any body else and they would've been down an arm, which means no ninjutsu, and taijutsu would've been greatly hampered as well." Jiraiya was genuinely impressed, there had been some good strategy behind that move if that's what the kid had been going for. The sudden loss of balance from losing mobility in an arm would've created a perfect opening for him to finish the battle then and there. 'Not even Tsunade was this precise at that age... I wonder what else he can do?'

His musings were put on hold as he was once again pursued by the blonde-haired male of the team, a flurry of fists and kicks once again forcing Jiraiya to duck, dive and backpedal as he continued to dodge the speedster. 'And this kid. For someone his age to have attained this level of speed... And on top of that, he's just as smart, if not a little more shrewd and perceptive than Uzumaki over there.'

The man suddenly noticed a thin smirk on the blonde's face, and realised too little too late that he'd been corralled in the direction of the female of the team, whose sword was mid swing and a mere hair's breadth away from the back of his neck. Thinking fast, the man began channeling chakra into his thick white mane of hair, the chakra hardening it and lengthening it considerably.

And just in the nick of time too, because not a tenth of a split second later did the girl's blade impact with his white hair, the metal of her sword ricocheting with an audible clang and sending a reverberating shock of pain through her hands.

Yin shrieked in surprise as the stinging from her failed sneak attack continued to ripple through her hands, but as painful as it was she never let go of her sword. Sure it hurt, but being unarmed would hurt a lot more, especially if Jiraiya managed to get a hold of her sword and prevent her from re-equipping it. "Ow! What the hell was that sensei?!"

The white haired man jumped back as all three of his students once again entered his line of sight, his hair shrinking and softening as he halted his chakra flow. "That, my dear, was my saving grace from being beheaded. You're quite a ruthless one aren't ya?"

The girl merely glowered back at the man as she softly shook out her hands, the lingering pain from her attack still stinging mildly. "Only when I need to be."

Jiraiya could attest to that. Out of the three of his new genin, she was definitely the one that seemed the most bubbly and least inclined to engage in such ruthless attacks from what he'd first deduced about her personality. But lo and behold she had just gone straight for the kill. Granted she probably wouldn't have been able to handle having killed him after the fact. It would no doubt have been her first kill, and she seemed like the person that could potentially fall apart from guilt and self loathing after going through with the act of taking another human's life.

Despite that though, she was skilled, knew when to take advantage if the opportunity presented itself, such as before when Minato keeping him busy had afforded her the perfect chance to put him down and out for the count. The man rubbed the back of his neck gingerly, cringing slightly as he eyed the girl's blade, the metal glinting ominously in the sun's rays. 'She may not be as physically fit or as fast as the other two, but the increased range that her sword gives her will benefit her well as a front line combatant. Minato's speed clearly makes him a guerrilla hit-and-run kind of opponent, overwhelming his targets or taking them down before they even realise what's hit them. And Naruto is well on his way to becoming a skilled combat medic and a critical support unit. Given some time and a bit of refinement, these kids can grow up to be something else... Not to mention the prophecy, but it's still too early to tell if I've found the one I've been searching for.'

Glancing back at his students, the man lowered himself into a ready crouch before motioning for his students to 'come-hither' with his hand, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face. "That should do it for warm ups. Let's see how you do when your opponent starts hitting back shall we?"

XxX

A broadly grinning Jiraiya stood tall in front of the centre training post, staring out at his students who were all struggling immensely to pick themselves back up onto their feet. It was nearing early evening, and each one of his genin were now battered and bruised in more ways than one, dirt and blood caking their bodies. Yin was crouched down on one knee with her sword embedded vertically into the ground before her, the girl using the blade as support to keep her upright, sweat and blood dripping down her forehead as her breaths came out in ragged rasps.

Minato was sat on his rear with his body favouring his right side heavily. There were noticeable cuts and puncture wounds dotted all up and down along his left arm and the left side of his chest, and his lifeblood was slowly staining the grass below in a vibrant velvety-scarlet. Naruto wasn't fairing much better, the boy leaning forward on his hands and knees with sweat rolling off his brow and soaking the grass below him, his breathing more laboured than the other two. His clothes were drenched in just as much sweat and dry blood, but he had no visible wounds on him whatsoever, the medic having depleted most all of his reserves fixing himself up. As it stood, the Uzumaki was on his last legs, and only really had enough chakra left to get back on his feet.

Jiraiya purposely jingled the bells on his waist to get each student's attention, watching as each of their faces turned up to gaze at his suddenly-serious expression. "You guys still haven't managed to grab a single bell from me. I can honestly say I'm more than a little disappointed in the three of you."

"Wha—how can you say that sensei?! We've been trying our best!" Yin exclaimed loudly, her already-red face going redder with anger. They'd been dancing the same dance for the past several hours, and she'd lost complete track of time ages ago. The fact of the matter was though, they'd been giving it their all this entire time. Their exhaustion was testament enough to that.

"Well sometimes your best just isn't good enough," the man replied offhandedly, waving his hand nonchalantly and turning slightly away from the group. "You know, I had high expectations for you guys, but it seems all that's got me is a dose of decrepit disappointment."

Yin couldn't believe what she was hearing, and it was crushing her that their once so enthusiastic and encouraging sensei was being so harsh and callous all of a sudden. The pale blue-haired girl was just about ready to hang her head in defeat before a tap on her shoulder brought her attention to her blonde-haired teammate, his hand outstretched as he offered to help her up. The girl just stared at his hand though, not finding it in herself to grab it. What was the point any ways? She was dead tired and could barely keep herself upright. Not to mention they probably weren't going to get a single bell, let alone two, so they'd all be going back to the Academy it seemed.

Seeing that she wasn't ready to take his hand, Minato looked up from the girl and directly towards their sensei. He still left his hand outstretched for Yin to grab onto, though his full attention had been diverted to the white-haired man for the moment. "I don't believe that sensei. Did you really expect us, a trio of fresh Academy graduates to be able to best an elite jōnin of the village?"

"I expected you to try—"

"And we did sensei!" Yin once again shouted, clenching her fists into the grass below. "We tried our best and it wasn't good enough. What do you expect us to do now? We're tired and there's no way we can beat you—"

"So you're just gonna give up? Is that what you're saying?" The girl didn't say anything after, and Jiraiya continued to stare pitifully in her direction. "Pathetic—"

"Shut up." Naruto slowly lifted his head to glare at their sensei, his breathing still ragged and his muscles protesting in agony. "Just... shut up." Slowly but surely, the redhead hobbled back onto shaky feet, looking more than a few times like he was gonna topple back to the floor. But he held strong, and he ambled his way over to the pale blue-haired girl who was still staring dejectedly into the ground below, reaching out a hand of his own on the girl's other side. "As much as you want us too... we're not gonna give up 'ttebayo. After everything we've done to get here, after all we've had to accomplish... there's no way we'll just throw it all away and give up..."

Minato continued to glare with narrowed eyes at their sensei, Naruto's words striking a chord and resonating with his own feelings on the matter. "That's right. No matter how many times you keep knocking us down, we'll just keep getting right back up. Isn't that right, Yin?"

The girl was silent for a long time, a few sniffles being heard before she slowly glanced up and grabbed both boy's outstretched hands, allowing them to pull her to her feet, even though it almost ended up in her pulling them down with her. "T-That's right sensei. Nobody said anything about giving up, so don't think we're letting you off the hook that easy!"

The girl raised her sword and held it shakily before her, Naruto and Minato both similarly lowering themselves into taijutsu stances as they readied for another attack.

Before they could advance though and re-initiate the fight, Jiraiya began a slow clap, his demeanour shifting from the cold, callous exterior he'd been exuding moments prior, to his initial enthusiastic exterior, a broad grin on his face. "You all pass!"

Whatever force of will the three students had been using to remain standing was suddenly lost, and they toppled over in a pile of entangled limbs and muffled groans, each one as confused as the next. Jiraiya continued to grin wildly though. "I imagine this may definitely seem quite out of the blue—"

"No shit sensei!"

"—language! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?! Ahem, as I was saying. A real shinobi is one who continues to endure, regardless of what's thrown at him. As a shinobi, the one thing you need... is the guts to never give up! And you guys have shown me that today. You guys have got it in spades, so, you all pass."

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head in bemusement, glancing between all three and the pair of bells attached to his waist. "In all honesty, this test was supposed to be about teamwork, but ever since yesterday you guys seem pretty closely knit, so I figured keeping it as such would've been a waste. I feel like my improvised test did the job just perfectly if I do say so myself." From down on the ground in their entangled position, the three genin all smiled happily, glad that they'd managed to pass the test and finally and officially become genin. "Now, you guys have had a long day, so—"

"You're gonna treat us to supper sensei?"

The man let out a loud laugh, his boisterous chuckles echoing around the clearing. "Ha, in your dreams! But seriously, I'm a little low on funds, so you're just going to have to find your own food gakis. On another note, meet back here tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Tomorrow we begin missions, so come prepared. I hate to have to love and leave you, but I have some... _research,_ that needs tending to, so I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

With that the man disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the clearing fell into a tranquil silence, save for the quiet wheezes coming from the battered and bruised genin still lying on the ground.

"Research?" Minato had a thoughtful frown on his face, but shrugged it off on account of being too tired to think much on it.

"Who cares. So... anyone up for some supper? It's on me!" Yin exclaimed brightly, a happy smile on her face.

"Sure thing Yin... let's just... take it easy for a while. What do you say?" Naruto questioned softly, his eyes held closed as he tried his best to ignore the paining of his body.

She was about to respond before the soft snores of her redheaded teammate reached her ears, and she giggled softly. "Yeah... let's just rest for a while Naruto."

XxX

It wasn't long after Naruto's short nap that they left for supper at a small steak house, all three genin's stomachs roaring harmoniously. They'd worked up quite an appetite during Jiraiya's 'exercise', and they'd all been positively famished. Needless to say, Naruto was glad he didn't have to pay for the meal, and he actually felt quite bad for Yin. Although she had initially offered, Naruto didn't hold back in the slightest when he ordered his food, and he could only imagine how much the bill must've come to when combining all the food they ate together.

Jiraiya-sensei and his broke ass be damned, the first time that he had enough money to take them out for a meal Naruto planned on eating the man back into bankruptcy. And he refused to let Yin ever pay for him again, because the guilt he was feeling now was definitely not worth all the steaks he'd eaten a few minutes ago.

Naruto walked up the familiar path to Mito-baa's house with a satisfied smile on his face. Granted he was guilty, but that had been some of the best steak he'd ever had. 'Sorry Yin, I guess I'll grab the next one.' Naruto pulled out his key and entered the house, the sound of familiar voices chatting reaching his ears. Although the voices were familiar, he was quite surprised to be hearing them. 'What's Hokage-jiji doing here? He usually only stops by every couple of weeks, and he was here a few days ago.'

Figuring that he wouldn't find out anything standing by the front door, he followed the voices and eventually found what he was looking for in the kitchen, Mito-baa, Hokage-jiji, the Hokage's wife Biwako-baa and Kushina. Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion at the serious looks on everyone's faces. Kushina had a distant look in her misty eyes, her bottom lip trembling. Hokage-jiji and his wife both looked incredibly sad. Though they hid it well, it was clear in their body language.

The atmosphere itself felt quite heavy, and Naruto felt like he'd just intruded on something incredibly important. "Mito-baa, what's going on? Why is Hokage-jiji here? Is something wrong?"

The elderly Uzumaki attempted an encouraging smile, though the pained look in her eyes couldn't be hidden, and Naruto felt a small lump form in the back of his throat as his heartbeat began to quicken. It was Hokage-jiji that broke the tense silence, his voice a little hoarse and crackly. "Come take a seat Naruto-kun. We have some things we need to discuss."

"What kind of things?" Naruto questioned immediately, his eyes narrowed into thin slits as he regarded the man. "Why is everyone so quiet? Just spit it out—"

"I'm dying Naruto-kun," Mito-baa said softly, her voice oddly calm despite the gravity of the situation. "But like Saru-chan said, there is much to be discussed. So please, come take a seat Naruto-kun. For me."

* * *

 _ **Okay guys, that's a wrap! As always, please let me know if I've made errors any where, it really bugs me if I have and I don't go fix them. Also, like I said above, I'm hoping to start grabbing some more reviews, and I wanna try and see how quickly I can hit 100! I know many people have been discouraged by the fact that this is no longer a Naruto/Kushina story, but for those who are still sticking by, I would just like to say I appreciate your support, truly. I've come to realise that despite there being certain people who get angry or annoyed with certain story developments, I can't make everyone happy. So as long as there are a few of you who are enjoying yourselves and my work, that's good enough for me to keep going. But I'd still like to get that review count going haha, so give me a hand will ya?!**_

 _ **So this chapter sees Team 8 or Team Jiraiya during there true genin test. As overused as the bell test is, Jiraiya was given it as a genin so I see no reason why he wouldn't give it to his students. Obviously he's changed it up a bit due to their initial cohesion as a team, so the true point of it was technically already fulfilled. You could say that Jiraiya was going into this test with already having made a decision to pass his team, but he just wanted to test out their skills and see what they're made of. I'll leave that to be interpreted by you. But what he did do was to impart a little of his own shinobi way and nindo, in the form of having the guts to never give up, etc. As their sensei, it's going to become something that they all pick up on as his students, so I thought I'd make that known during this test.**_

 _ **Like someone pointed out, I had always planned to have Naruto using chakra scalpels in combat, so good on you for pointing that out and suggesting it as well... great minds think alike and all that, ha! I guess I could've added a little more fighting into the scene, but I wanted to illustrate how long they actually fought for, and that wouldn't have really worked if I made it longer. Jiraiya put them through the wringer during this test, and that was his plan, just to get a feel for their abilities. The prophecy also pops in here, but as of now it's not too significant yet.**_

 _ **Then last but not least we have Mito's sudden bad news! I take it most of you will know what's coming next, but I'll keep it under wraps for those of you who don't know yet.**_

 _ **Any ways, that's that for now. I'll leave the rest to you guys. Heads up in advance, my next update might not be within a week, or even two... I've got a test next week, two projects due for the week after, and then four more tests written in the time span of five days the week after that, so I'm gonna be up to my neck in work and studying... ugh, save me haha! Any ways, enough of my ranting, I'll stop boring you with my petty Uni problems. Enjoy your weekends... I know I will (he said sarcastically).**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	7. Burdens of an Uzumaki I

_**Hey guys, here's the next chapter for JFO! This one is a little angsty and sad, but it wasn't intentional, the chapter wrote itself that way. Also, I need to let you guys know some things, but I'll explain after the chapter. For now, enjoy this chapter... hopefully.**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 6_**

 _Burdens of an Uzumaki I_

* * *

"Normal talking"

'Normal thinking'

* * *

Konoha was swathed in darkness as the seconds slowly ticked by into midnight, the soft whistling of the late-night-turned-early-morning breeze the only sound audible at the early hours of the new day. Village street lanterns and store lights were the only sources of light at the present time, though those were few and far between.

Darkness encompassed the section of the village where Mito-baa's house was located however. Hokage-jiji and Biwako-baa had long since left after the breaking of the worst news Naruto had ever had the privilege of receiving, so the house was bathed in darkness as well, everyone within now sound asleep.

Naruto breathed softly as he sat atop the roof of Mito-baa's house, his expression blank. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the night quite some time ago, though they were unfocused as he continued to stare ahead at nothing in particular. The sakura trees surrounding the house rustled softly with the breeze, broaching the deathly silence for a few scarce moments before an eerie quiet once again settled over the house.

Despite having only been in Konoha for a total of two years, Naruto had grown close to Mito-baa. Him and Kushina both in fact. They were both orphans back in Uzushiogakure, having only ever had each other for as long as they could remember. It had always been just the two of them taking on the world, and that had been fine with the duo. They'd never known the alternative, so not having parents didn't seem like as big of a deal to them as it probably should have.

After having arrived in Konoha though, they'd been put under the watch and care of Mito-baa. She wasn't immediate family, at least that's what was assumed, though she was family nonetheless. Things had no doubt started out slightly awkward once they started living with Mito-baa, though that quickly changed. What initially started off as a simple caretaker slash dependant relationship quickly evolved into the parent-child relationship the two redheads had never had the opportunity of experiencing before. They had developed into something akin to a real family, and Naruto and Kushina could honestly say they'd never been happier.

That feeling of getting a simple packed lunch for school and knowing that once you got back home someone would be there to welcome you was something many took for granted. It was something the pair of redheads had never had the pleasure of experiencing, and it was something they cherished every single day.

That entire reality Naruto had come to know up until now though was coming to an abrupt stop. Going from being an orphan, to then having a family, and now knowing that he was going to be forced back into the position of orphan again... the redhead felt like his world was slowly starting to shatter, and he was struggling to hold onto the pieces.

He felt horrible for taking this as badly as he was though. All he had to deal with was the fact that Mito-baa was on her death bed. As difficult as that was, and as painful as it was going to be when she passed, Kushina definitely had things a lot worse. After Naruto had arrived home earlier that evening and the bombshell had been dropped, he'd learned a few things about Mito-baa. He'd been sworn to secrecy by the Hokage regarding all the information discussed, with death being the penalty if he ever divulged the contents of said discussion.

All this time though, Mito-baa had been a jinchūriki, which Naruto learned was someone who had a bijū sealed inside of them. It was all very political, something which had first come into play when her husband the Shodai Hokage was still around, and it aided in the balancing of power between the five great villages of the Elemental Nations. With Mito-baa's death at hand though, they would need to find a new vessel for the bijū that was sealed within her.

This vessel would need to have strong chakra to be able to keep the strength and power of a bijū at bay. It was at that tidbit of information that the puzzle within Naruto's mind suddenly began piecing itself together, and all the information pointed in one direction: Kushina. Even among members of the Uzumaki clan who were known for the incredible life force and strong chakras, his cousin's was even more so. Or at least, that's what he'd heard back when they were still living in Uzushio. While he was also an Uzumaki and had strong chakra, Kushina's definitely had a bit of an edge.

So while Naruto was definitely sad for the news of Mito-baa's impending death, he was also at a loss for Kushina's soon-to-be burden. He had no idea how she must be feeling, and it made him feel even worse than before that he was having such a hard time when he didn't even have things half as bad as his cousin did.

He sat in silence for a moment longer before he heard some footsteps behind him. Being this close however, he already knew who was behind him from the feel of their chakra. They'd been together long enough for Naruto to be able to distinguish it purely by reflex. He continued staring ahead though as his visitor joined him, taking note of their presence though not acknowledging it.

"Do you remember when we first came here to Konoha Naruto?" Kushina asked softly, her voice a gentle breath. Sighing softly, his redheaded cousin leaned her head against his shoulder. "Despite how calm I may have looked, I was scared. Terrified actually. I knew what to expect, but knowing that didn't really help me overcome my fear much 'ttebane. There was a point after we first arrived where I'd even considered running back home…"

This finally managed to feed some feeling back into Naruto's expressionless body, and he turned to his right to regard her with shocked eyes. "B-But why didn't you tell me? You know I would've dropped everything at the drop of a hat and come with—"

"That's exactly why I decided against it. You on the other hand were so excited about this place, about the potential for learning, the chance to start over in a new village; I couldn't take that away from you, so I grit my teeth and I stuck it out." Seeing that he looked ready to interject again, she quickly held up her fist and shushed him with a quick yet very subtle threat of pain. 'Always handy in a pinch,' she thought with a smirk. "And you know what, I started liking it here too! Before I knew it, two years had gone by, and I now more than anything want to be able to call this place home."

Glancing up at the full moon that was hanging high above the village, she smiled softly. "What am I saying, this place is already home. And for that home, I'll do whatever I need to in order to protect it. Even if it means taking on Mito-baa's burden." She glanced to her right with a pleading expression on her face. "So please Naruto, don't be sad for me—"

"I'm not—"

"Don't even try and deny it! I've known you long enough to read you like a book. I can see it in your eyes. You were probably thinking of something stupid like taking my place instead, am I right?! So please..."

There was silence for a long moment before Naruto pulled his poncho up and wiped his face, a few sniffles being heard before he stood up and took a deep breath while slowly dropping his poncho. "Like I said, I'm not sad. I'm just glad it's not me is all." With that said, Naruto turned around and slowly made his way back the way he came, stopping at the edge of the roof just before descending to the ground. "Thanks... Kushina. I'll always be here if you need me. Never forget that."

Kushina was left atop the roof as her cousin went back inside, a subdued smile on her face. Another soft breeze ruffled her blood red locks as she continued staring out into the darkness, a solitary tear falling from her face. "Thanks... Naruto."

* * *

 _A few days later, city centre of Konoha, late afternoon..._

* * *

Naruto, Yin and Minato sat atop a small park bench located off to the side of the main street in the centre of Konoha. Naruto and Minato were sitting with small grins on their faces, while a slightly disgruntled Yin huffed and puffed in annoyance beside them, her body covered in a multitude of flaring red scratches. Her shirt was torn in several places, and there were a number of rips in her shorts as well as the bandages around her right leg. "Tora really did a number on you Yin."

"Quiet Minato," the girl huffed in exasperation, glaring at a rock in the dirt. "I don't need you and your observational skills at the moment reminding me of that... _thing_."

Naruto snorted in amusement. "I thought you said you loved animals—"

"Well that _thing_ was no animal, I can assure you of that! I still can't believe Jiraiya-sensei took my sword away from me. I wasn't gonna do any lasting damage to it." Seeing the disbelieving looks and deadpan stares of her teammates, she shrugged. "What?"

"You tried to cut off its tail." Minato interjected with a raise of his eye brow.

" _And_ its arms and legs so that it couldn't run or scratch you anymore!" Naruto added as an afterthought.

"Yeah well, whatever that _thing_ was, I guarantee it probably would've been able to grow them back like the demon it is." Her teammates just rolled their eyes, causing Yin to cross her arms and huff again, though crossing her arms drew a hiss of pain from her lips. Damn that stupid cat and its Kami-forsaken claws!

Naruto quickly got up from his seat and sat beside his pale blue-haired teammate, gently grabbing her hands. "Here, let me help." Yin's cheeks slowly reddened from the contact, though Naruto didn't even notice and slowly turned her hands palm up, scrutinising the scratches on the under side of her arm that were now visible to the him. He let go of her hands and placed both of his hands above her cuts, his hands suddenly glowing green with medical chakra.

The pale blue-haired girl sighed in relief as the healing chakra washed over her burning scratches, the cuts slowly stitching themselves up and fading from view altogether. Naruto continued until all the scratches over her body were completely healed, getting up and softly rubbing a thumb over the skin on her palms where the scratches had originally been with a grin. "There we go, good as new."

Yin's cheeks reddened once again as she smiled shyly, but the girl couldn't take her eyes away from the spot Naruto was slowly rubbing with his thumb. "T-Thanks Naruto. That really does feel better."

Naruto let go of her hand and sat down beside his blonde haired teammate again with a small smile. "Don't mention it. Glad I could help. I can't do anything about your clothes though," the redhead mumbled as an afterthought.

Before anything more could be said, Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke with a small grin on his face. "Another D-rank well done team! I was especially impressed with your over eagerness to restrain our target," the white haired man stated pointedly while staring at Yin, the man slowly handing her back her sword with a small frown. "But next time, a little less on the over eagerness if you will."

The pale blue-haired girl had the decency to look sheepish and just nodded her head, getting a satisfied grin from Jiraiya. "All right guys, well that's it for today. Before you go though, just a heads up reminder that we're only meeting tomorrow later in the afternoon. I've got some business to attend to before that, so we'll most likely only have time for a couple D-ranks before calling it a day."

"Only a couple sensei?" Minato whined in mock sadness, sighing heavily. "I was _really_ hoping we could do some more."

"Quit being a smart ass or I'll more than gladly try and organise a few more for you," the white haired man added smugly, smirking at the blonde's quick change in mood. "Any ways, off with you. Naruto, you stay put."

Naruto quickly sat back down as his sensei asked him to stay behind, watching as Yin and Minato hesitated in leaving while giving him worried and curious glances respectively. Naruto gave his best reassuring grin though, and soon enough, it was just him and his white haired sensei. "So, what's up Jiraiya-sensei?"

Jiraiya's face quickly became serious. "Come on gaki, we've got some business to attend to. You were never given a specific date, but the transfer of Mito-sama's burden is happening tonight, and we're both going to be in attendance."

Naruto's expression quickly fell, though he put on a brave face and nodded resolutely at his sensei. He'd already used a few tears on this matter, but he refused to use anymore. Right now, he had to be strong for Kushina. If she wanted to cry, he'd be there as her shoulder, but he refused to shed anymore tears. "All right, lead the way."

XxX

 _The gentle pitter-patter of rain sounded out repeatedly as the tiny droplets of water bombarded the roof. It was the first spring Naruto and Kushina had ever spent in Konoha, and in an unexpected turn of events, it was raining, hard. And on a weekend to boot._

 _Naruto watched as the showering cascaded down all around Konoha through the window in his room, his warm breath fogging up the glass and obscuring his view. The redhead sighed in disappointment. He'd really been hoping to have some fun outside today, maybe even stop by the park on the other side of the village where all his fellow classmates usually hung out._

 _But it seemed that mother nature currently had other plans, and the flora in and around the village getting a good shower seemed to be it. Naruto sighed again before hearing a few chinks of metal coming from the direction of the kitchen, and with nothing better to do at the moment, Naruto decides to investigate._

 _He arrived in the kitchen to find his great aunt working diligently behind the stove, her eyes focused intently on the contents of a pot she was currently stirring with a wooden spoon. "I know Kushina-chan's not too happy because she's still got homework to do, but what's got you all depressed Naruto-kun? Not much of a rain enthusiast?"_

 _The redheaded boy stopped in his tracks and raised his eyebrows in awe. It never ceased to amaze him how Mito-baa could seemingly always sense him approach. Although to be honest, she had once been a shinobi, and wife to the Shodai Hokage, so she had to have picked up a few things during her life. What Naruto couldn't understand was how she always managed to figure out how he was feeling without even glancing at him to see his expression or body language. It was like she had a set of eyes in the back of her head, and it perturbed Naruto more than he cared to admit._

 _Naruto carried on walking after getting over his initial amazement and seated himself at the small kitchen table, planting his face in the palm of his hand lazily. "I just really felt like going outside today, but now I'm stuck inside because of all this rain 'ttebayo!"_

 _Mito-baa simply hummed non-comittaly, a sign she had heard him though she was currently more occupied with something else. Wrinkling his nose a bit and taking a few whiffs of the air, Naruto finally noted the smells filtering through the kitchen and knitted his brows in thought. "Are you making a miso stew?" Naruto sincerely hoped his nose was right in its assessment of the wafting smells, because he loved Mito-baa's miso stew._

 _"Uh-huh," she answered simply, throwing in a few more diced up vegetables before continuing to stir the contents of the pot._

 _"Are we having guests?"_

 _Another hum was his answer, and his question of 'who' suddenly died on his lips as Mito-baa leaned her wooden spoon on the side of the pot and stepped away from the stove, turning to him fully as she leaned against the kitchen counter casually. "Saru-chan and his wife are coming over for lunch later, so I thought I'd whip up something special. My Saru-chan is going to become a father, so I just had to call them over for a celebratory dinner!"_

 _Seeing that Naruto seemed to be more than a little bored, the elderly Uzumaki slowly bent down to the cupboards behind her and began rummaging through their contents. After several seconds she finally came back up with two small planks of wood, each indented in the centre slightly to allow for certain dishes or pots to be placed atop them. She placed them softly onto the kitchen table Naruto was sitting at before flicking him upside the head to get his attention. "Go grab your f_ _ū_ _injutsu kit and come back down here, I need your help with something while I cook."_

 _Naruto's bored face immediately brightened, and he quickly hurried off to his room to grab his kit before darting back into the kitchen with a long blank scroll and his ink and brush set, placing them neatly on the table. He found Mito-baa watching him as he settled into his seat before gesturing at the scroll in front of him._

 _"I need you to make a seal for me that I can use on these two wooden trays here that I bought a few days ago," she began to explain, pointing out the two planks she'd retrieved earlier. "I used to have a couple of heated trays before, but those were broken quite some time ago, so now is as good a time as any to remake some. So what I need from you, is to create a seal that will constantly radiate a certain amount of heat based on a temperature of my choosing, as long as there is still chakra in the seal. Simple enough, right?"_

 _She watched as the gears slowly began turning in Naruto's head as he started processing how to tackle this, and he slowly raised his hand, momentarily forgetting that this wasn't an Academy class. Mito snickered a little, though Naruto didn't seem to notice. "I probably need to make it a reusable seal, because I doubt you'd wanna have to redo this again if you don't need to?"_

 _The question itself had a pretty obvious answer, and Mito gathered that Naruto probably already knew the answer to it. But voicing it and hearing a confirmation of his thoughts helped him to process what he needed to do, so she nodded with a small smile on her face. "That's right. Don't forget, we don't want the wood to suddenly combust as well, so make sure to add a strong enough heat resistant element to the base of the seal. But I guess I'll leave the rest to you."_

 _Naruto nodded and slowly unfurled his scroll while grabbing his brush, making imaginary strokes over the paper as he visualised just what he wanted here. Mito watched as he cutely stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth while his face contorted into one of concentration, and she smiled again before turning back to her stew in a slight panic, almost forgetting about it entirely. 'Crap, I hope I didn't burn it!'_

 _The kitchen descended into a peaceful silence, the soft strokes of Naruto's brush and the gentle bubbling of the contents of Mito's pot the only sounds heard from within. It was about half an hour later when Naruto gently placed his brush back in its holster and glanced over his seal, blowing it gently before clapping his hands. "Mito-baa, I'm finished! What do you think?"_

 _The woman gave one last stir before walking up behind Naruto and tracing over the lines that had been expertly drawn with her eyes, Naruto's expectant face glancing up from beneath Mito-baa's. Her face betrayed nothing as she perused his handy work, and Naruto was becoming slightly worried that maybe he'd made a few mistakes, and she was attempting to wrap her head around what he'd been trying to do._

 _She slowly stood up and grabbed her chin thoughtfully as she continued staring at the seal, and she smiled at his work. "I'm impressed. This is quite thorough, I must say. It's quite an improvement from my last." And really, it was. It had the temperature element that allowed for a multitude of settings depending on what the user wanted. It also had a small chakra storage seal which would keep the barest amounts of chakra in it to prevent the seal from disintegrating, allowing the seal to be used repeatedly without having to redraw it. There were other new elements too, and she really was impressed._

 _Naruto grinned triumphantly, glad that he'd nailed it first time. Precision is the name of the game, not perfection, as Mito-baa would usually say. There was always more than one way to accomplish the same goal in fūinjutsu, each and every person interpreting a seal in a different way. So while one seal may not be perfect in someone else's eyes, it would still work properly. That was one of many lessons he remembered his great aunt teaching him. She really was a great shinobi._

XxX

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as a hand gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, glancing up to his right and meeting the gaze of Hokage-jiji. He was a little surprised by the contact, but he gave the wizened Hokage what he thought was a grateful smile in return. In all honesty, it felt more like a grimace than anything, but the situation was a grim one.

Naruto stood beside Hokage-jiji in a special sealing hall located beneath the Uzumaki Clan's Mask Storage Temple. The temple itself was located on the eastern outskirts of Konoha in the direction of Uzushio, and it hadn't taken more than half an hour for Naruto and Jiraiya to arrive there. Though the circumstances made it feel like they'd been travelling for hours.

Naruto's mood was incredibly sombre. But he said he'd hold it together, for his cousin, so that's what he was going to do. Taking a deep breath, Naruto let his eyes pan across the hall. There were small candles scattered all around the room, lining the walls as well as circling the centre of the room in quite a wide sphere.

Sitting within the centre were the two female Uzumakis. Kushina was lying down on the ground in nothing but her underwear, the rest of her bare skin being covered in an inky black from the seals that were being drawn on her by Mito-baa herself. On any other occasion, Naruto might have found himself turning his head away in childish disgust at such a sight. Not tonight however.

Seeing the seals being drawn on his cousin at the moment seemed to ingrain the fact that this whole thing was actually happening, and that it wasn't just some 'ceremony' that had only been discussed in passing. However, the part of Naruto that was studying up on seals was immensely intrigued by what Mito-baa was currently inscribing. It was a seal like none other he'd ever seen before.

He watched in silent amazement as his great aunt continued for another half an hour before she finally stood up, releasing a wary breath and looking more like the old woman she was supposed to be. It made Naruto sad to see her as frail-looking as she currently was, a direct contrast to the person he'd come to know over these past two years.

He made to go out and help her, though the hand on his shoulder still held firm, and Naruto swivelled his head around to meet the shaking head of Hokage-jiji. "You cannot enter that circle Naruto-kun. There are currently quite a number of active seals surrounding Obasan and Kushina-chan, specifically chakra suppression seals as well as sound suppression seals. When the beast's chakra is released, it releases with it an immense amount of hostile intent and pressure. Such is the hatred that the Kyūbi no Kitsune is rumoured to possess."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed several times after the man's explanation, but he found he couldn't express what he wanted to say into words. After a few tense moments of silence, he clenched a fist at his side and settled for sighing softly. "Is it gonna hurt?"

Hiruzen never took his eyes off the two Uzumakis within the circle as he heard Naruto's soft voice, letting out a small sigh of his own. "I'm afraid so. Not for Kushina-chan however. I imagine at the end of this entire procedure, the worst of her afflictions will most likely be chakra exhaustion."

"So Mito-baa first has to suffer—"

"Naruto!" The man's voice had risen to a terrifyingly high level, and his eyes blazed with anger for a moment before he turned his eyes towards the small boy and sighed, crouching down in front of the redhead and holding both of his shoulders. "Listen Naruto-kun. I know you care for Mito just as much as I do, though there is nothing we can do about this. We are shinobi. She knows the stakes of this endeavour, as does Kushina-chan. As painful as this is going to be, it must be done, for the protection of this village."

Hiruzen released the boy's shoulders and stood back up to his full height, his eyes finding the two within the circle once more. "Kushina-chan has inherited Mito's will of fire, and she has sworn to do whatever it takes to protect her home. And in order to protect Konoha, she will become the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. If you really want to help her, just have faith in her decision and support her with all your strength. That is all I ask."

Nothing more was said as they continued watching in silence, and the tense atmosphere that had befallen the duo after their conversation was quickly replaced with an air of grudging acceptance. He knew Hokage-jiji was right, and there was nothing he could say to refute the man. It was no wonder the man was Hokage, Naruto thought with a bitter humourless chuckle.

Naruto's thoughts were cut off as his white-haired sensei landed roughly beside Hokage-jiji. "They're ready to begin sensei. All the Anbu have also reported that the immediate perimeter around our area is secure, so we can begin as soon as you're ready."

The Hokage glanced to his left at Jiraiya before looking back to the centre circle and meeting Mito's eyes, nodding his head softly at her. "Let us begin then."

* * *

 _ **Hey guys, so that's a wrap! Hope it wasn't too morbid. I didn't intend for this chapter to be so sad, but it kind of just ended up writing itself like that, and I couldn't really do anything about that. Sorry if things seem to be taking a turn for the worst, but things are gonna pick up afterwards, bear with me please!**_

 _ **Any ways, so there's not much to explain in this story, it was a bit filler if I do say so myself. I'll explain the actual seal next chapter if you guys so wish, but it's nothing I came up with myself, more just how I've interpreted things from canon to fit my story, but I'll explain my theories behind that next chapter. I was planning on finishing up with the sealing at the start of the next chapter, so stay tuned for that!**_

 _ **Also, an issue that's not really an issue yet but is most likely going to pop up later on in the story... pairings. I had decided on one before I started the story, now though I've become quite undecided, ha! I'm actually not sure at all who I want to pair with Naruto, though I've actually got an inclination to pair him with Konan if that seems feasible enough... I feel I could work her into this story well enough later on, though it's a decision I want to make with you guys as well. What do you think about Konan as a pair with Naruto? Any thoughts? Please help lol, it's bugging me! Also, haven't had much time to read over this chapter and check for errors, so if you spot any, like I always say, please tell me!**_

 _ **On a more important note, I've got a test week coming up soon, so there won't be another update for quite some time, possibly another 2-3 weeks at the least. I managed to post this one up just after finishing up with all the projects and assignments I had for these past couple days, and I felt bad for not having updated in a while, so that led to this chapter being born!**_

 _ **Also, be sure to check out** I Was Blind Before I Saw the World through your Eyes by longingparadise **! It's a great Shika/femNaru story that I've recently fallen in love with and started beta'ing, so give it a look see if you ship that pairing! You won't be disappointed, especially grammar-wise, nudge nudge, wink wink, haha!**_

 _ **Any ways, that's all from my side, hope you enjoy the rest of your night's/day's, till next time.**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	8. Burdens of an Uzumaki II

_**Hey guys, next chapter is up for JFO. Enjoy, or don't, it's up to you!**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 7_**

 _Burdens of an Uzumaki II_

* * *

Naruto leaned forward as far as he could on the chair he was sitting in, trying for all it was worth to be as close to his cousin as he could without joining her on the bed. She was lying in the white beds that were common place in Konoha's Hospital, though this particular room was one of the more well-guarded, private rooms that were reserved for very special cases, of which this most certainly was.

There was nothing lasting or permanent done to Kushina after the sealing besides the sealing itself, and she was suffering from a severe case of chakra exhaustion as her body acclimatised and fought to restrain the beast that now resided within her belly. Naruto was sure that if he peeled back the hospital gown she was wearing to peer at her stomach, besides the fact that that would be slightly perverted and wrong on countless levels, he'd still find the amazing piece of fūinjutsu developed by his aunt pulsating a brilliant orange and inky black as it slowly settled upon Kushina's skin. He'd done what he could at the time to ease whatever pain she might have been in, but she still seemed to suffer from the brunt of the sealing. She'd been out for over a day now.

* * *

 _The previous night..._

* * *

 _After Hokage-jiji's order to begin, Mito-baa gently lowered herself to the ground at Kushina's feet and began going through several seals before she became shrouded in a cloud of bubbling orange chakra. It was like nothing Naruto had ever seen, and the accompanying blood lust and killing intent that came with it was a massive shock as well. Even with the suppression seals in place, it still had enough of an effect to nearly drive him into unconsciousness. It was only through the effort of his white-haired sensei that he managed to stay awake through the initial stages of the sealing when the feeling was at its worst._

 _His eyes were wide with shock and sweat dripped profusely off the redhead's body, his breathing heavy and laboured as his eyes remained glued on the form of his aunt. It remained bubbling over his aunt for a few more seconds before being redirected at his cousin's stomach, the chakra racing through the air and seeming to slam into her with the force of tidal wave, her body arching and convulsing precariously as the chakra was drained from Mito-baa and filtered into Kushina._

 _Mito-baa had her teary eyes opened wide with pain, her mouth hanging ajar in a silent scream of unbridled agony. It was difficult for Naruto to continue watching his aunt go through so much pain, and he forcefully tore his eyes away and focused instead on his cousin who seemed to be fairing a lot better, not convulsing nearly as much as she had been initially. Things continued much the same for well over half an hour as the sealing continued, until slowly the orange chakra began receding from Mito-baa completely, the chakra congregating around the seal on her stomach before vanishing from her body altogether._

 _She dropped unceremoniously onto her back from her arched position, her body still and un-moving in the dimly lit room that had been cut a few candles short from the potent force of releasing the chakra initially. Naruto wanted to run for her, but the remaining chakra that was still slowly moving through the air grabbed his attention, and he watched as the last of it slowly transferred into the seal on his cousin's stomach, the inky black lines that had been drawn on her stomach all hurriedly retracting in on themselves._

 _All that remained was a spiral-themed seal that was alternating between inky black and orange, a tiny twinge of steam rising off the mark. Noting Kushina's un-moving body however, Naruto darted forward towards her instantly, this time not being stopped by Hokage-jiji as the procedure seemed to be over. The redhead quickly ran through a few hand seals as he slid to Kushina's side, his hands glowing green as his diagnostic jutsu came to life._

 _Hokage-jiji had been right for the most part. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her aside from the chakra exhaustion and the increased heart rate, but Naruto's nerves were more than a little shot after the entire ordeal and the killing intent he'd been submitted to for the better part of an hour, so he tentatively pulled back on his long sleeved shirt and knelt beside his cousin's head._

 _His arm was covered in more than a few scars that looked suspiciously like bite marks, something which the redhead was slightly embarrassed and self-conscious about. He'd experimented quite extensively when he'd first figured out that he possessed the Heal Bite, back when he hadn't known about the small little fact that each time he used it, a scar would remain from the bite. It was the reason he wore such long clothing all the time, despite the weather, but that didn't matter now._

 _He gingerly held his wrist up to his cousin's mouth and manoeuvred her teeth around his skin, immediately feeling the chakra drain from him as his ability worked to heal the injuries of Kushina. He didn't know how long he'd allowed his chakra to be siphoned in order to heal his cousin, but black spots soon filled his vision as he was hit with a wave of dizziness, and he slowly started tipping backwards as he lost the battle with gravity._

 _His head was set for a crash course with the stone floor below before a pair of strong hands grabbed him beneath the arm pits and set him down gently, his white-haired sensei crouching beside him and glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. "Easy there Naruto. Kushina's gonna be all right, there's no need for you to throw yourself into chakra exhaustion as well. What she needs now most of all is rest."_

 _Naruto listened as best he could, though there seemed to be a persistent ringing in his ears that kept him from hearing everything perfectly. His still-swimming vision didn't help matters, but he slowly got control of himself enough to notice his cousin's much steadier heart rate, her chest now rising and falling as if she were asleep. He breathed out a relieved sigh before gently lowering his head back to the stone floor, taking a few breaths before looking up at his sensei. "So what happens now?"_

 _Jiraiya was quiet for a moment as he examined the seal on his cousin's stomach, his expression one of awe and amazement. "Well right now gaki, we need to get Kushina to the hospital where we can monitor her condition, but other than that..."_

 _He trailed off as his eyes roamed over the motionless body at Kushina's feet, Sarutobi-sensei kneeling down beside it and gently holding the deathly cold hand in his. Jiraiya breathed a heavy sigh before getting to his feet and pulling a tired Naruto with him, throwing his redheaded student over his shoulder. "Now, we mourn gaki..."_

 _His sensei's voice was barely a whisper, though Naruto heard it all the same as his eyes found Mito-baa's lifeless body, shutting them closed to hold back the tears he knew were threatening to spill. 'I'll miss you... Mito-baa...'_

XxX

Naruto leaned back in his chair and released a heavy sigh, raising his gaze skyward and closing his eyes to prevent any possible tears from being shed. It had been a pretty trying weak to say the least, and a simple mission would do wonders to keep his mind off things for the moment.

If possible, something that took them out of the village for a few days maybe. Jiraiya-sensei had suggested that maybe they would be ready for a C-rank mission soon, and that had been a few days ago already. Even a D-rank would be fine, but the sooner the better, otherwise he'd find himself wallowing in this chair for the foreseeable future. And despite the fact that Kushina would no doubt appreciate the support, she hated being looked at as weak, and she'd end up showing her appreciation to Naruto in a fairly _aggressive_ manner.

Naruto's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the deep grumbling of his stomach, a sign that it was indeed nearing the middle of the day. A sign that it was nearing one of Naruto's favourite meals of the day: lunch. Jiraiya-sensei hadn't contacted them yet about any upcoming missions or training sessions, so he guessed he would have some time to kill by grabbing a quick bite to eat. He had to be quick though, because the white-haired jōnin had told them he'd be getting a hold of them by today the latest, and half the day was up already, so he had no doubt he'd be getting a sort of summons soon to meet at their usual spot.

Naruto quickly stood from his chair and straightened out his poncho, looking down at his steadily breathing cousin with a soft stare before giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Hang in there Kushina. I'll see you soon."

With his piece said, the redhead moved towards the window at the far side of the room and mounted the window sill, throwing himself out the room. Or at least, he would've thrown himself out the room, had he not just slammed head first into his sensei's own head who had been on his way into the room from the other side. His sensei was crouched atop the window sill while glaring down at Naruto and massaging his cheek, the redhead lying sprawled over the hospital floor with a few black crows circling his dazed head. "Watch it gaki! Can't you just use the door like a normal person would?!"

Naruto shook his head free of the cobwebs and circling crows before pointing an accusing finger at the white-haired man. "Hey, you're one to talk! You never use the door!"

"Exactly! And everybody knows this! So why would you suddenly decide to use the window? The window is _my_ entrance!"

Naruto just huffed before folding his arms and glaring at his sensei, his stomach softly growling in the background. "What do you want sensei? I'm hungry and I need to go find some food quickly before my stomach starts eating itself."

Jiraiya clicked his tongue though motioned with his head back outside the window. "Come on, we've got a mission, a C-rank, so I'm gonna brief you guys on the specifics quickly. Minato and Yin are waiting outside, so let's go." Seeing the expectant look on the redhead's face, Jiraiya sighed heavily before bowing his head in defeat. "All right fine. I'll brief you guys over some barbeque. I guess I do owe you guys one. And unlike my very well endowed old teammate, I like to pay off my debts as soon as I can. Come on gaki, let's make tracks."

XxX

The beautiful aroma of cooked meat permeated the restaurant as the sizzling of cooking steaks hissed, generating a soothing sort of background noise that was accompanied with being in the barbeque restaurant. It was a weird sort of feeling to explain, but Naruto completely forgot that train of thought as his stomach growled softly, prompting the redhead to glance at the steaks on the grill in front of him and flash a mouth-watering smile. The steaks were seared to perfection, and within the next few seconds, Naruto had all his steaming pieces atop his plate, devouring each piece as if his life depended on.

Jiraiya watched on in slight dismay, his right hand nervously twitching and tapping at his pants pocket where his wallet lay in hiding. Damn these brats. They were eating at least a few mission pay's worth of food at the moment, and they seemed to have no inclination on stopping. There _had_ to be some way he could take their minds off the food.

"So, Jiraiya-sensei, weren't we supposed to be having a mission briefing?" Minato questioned, placing his chop sticks atop his plate and gingerly wiping at his mouth with a stray serviette.

Jiraiya snapped his fingers and thanked his lucky stars that Minato reminded him. He'd been so caught up on the money he was going to have to fork over for the food he nearly forgot why they came here in the first place. "Y-Yes! That's right, thanks for reminding me Minato. I gathered you all to brief you on our next mission. As you know from a few days ago, I realised that this team is definitely more than capable of taking on a higher class of mission, so I snagged us a nice C-rank to step us up to the next level."

Yin threw her hands up in surprise with a small yip of excitement, though quickly lowered them and coughed nervously into her hands as she noticed she was making quite a scene. "Uh, c-carry on Jiraiya-sensei."

The white-haired man grinned at the usual enthusiasm from the girl before forging on with the briefing. "Now, I said you were more than capable of taking on higher class missions, but I'm still going to ease you into them and slowly take off the training wheels so to speak."

"Hey! We're not children 'ttebayo!"

"No, you're absolutely right Naruto. I forgot that you guys were _only_ ten years old and _only_ just a few centimetres shy of reaching my hip. Forgive my... slip of the tongue," the white haired man drawled sarcastically, knocking the red-faced Uzumaki upside the head and placing another plate of meat in front of him to keep him quiet. "Just take that and keep your mouth shut will ya? Good. As I was saying, our mission is a simple one. A routine supply and delivery drop at a nearby allied village. All we've got to do is deliver the package, and make our way back home. That's all there is to it."

Minato hummed thoughtfully as he took a sip of his water. "So where's the supply drop Jiraiya-sensei?"

Jiraiya turned his head in Minato's direction and pulled out a small scroll, unfurling it to reveal a small detailed map of Hi no Kuni and the immediate neighbouring countries. "Our destination..." The white-haired man said slowly while bringing his finger up and dropping it towards the top left of the map. "... will be here. Kusagakure no Sato in Kusa no Kuni. We'll be out of the village for about five days, a week at the most, so make sure to pack accordingly. We'll be leaving in an hour, so meet up at the village gates then."

Jiraiya rose from his seat and slapped a wad of cash down onto the table, tears of agony rolling down his face like waterfalls as he reluctantly parted with his hard earned cash. "I hope you enjoyed your lunch. This will be the last time I get swindled into paying for you three monsters!"

With that he left in a puff of smoke, leaving the three genin to snicker softly in his wake of despair.

XxX

Naruto continued standing outside the door to Mito-baa's home for what felt like the second hour, un-moving. In reality, it had only been about 25 minutes, but still, that was almost half his time for packing used up, and he needed to get inside to start packing his things.

But he couldn't bring his body to move to open the door. He hadn't come back here since yesterday, having slept at the hospital with Kushina instead, and without really thinking about it, he'd almost half expected to find Mito-baa standing in the kitchen and preparing a meal as usual. But then he'd remembered that that was no longer possible, and he'd found himself stuck outside the door, not having the will to go in.

He continued to battle internally with himself, his trembling hand outstretched and reaching for the door handle to the home. His fingers were mere centimetres from brushing against the metal of the handle, but he couldn't bring himself to stretch just a little further and open the door. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth in exasperation. 'Why is this so difficult?! I should just open the door—'

He suddenly felt a warm hand grasp his and give it the gentle nudge it needed, Naruto's wide eyes snapping backwards to meet the sympathetic gaze of Hokage-jiji, a soft smile on his face. "It's okay Naruto. You don't have to do this alone."

Naruto just nodded wordlessly, not trusting his voice at the moment and allowing Hiruzen to turn the door knob and slowly open the door, the creaking of the hinges echoing ominously through the quiet. Hiruzen's hands moved to Naruto's shoulders, and he allowed the Hokage to direct him through the deserted house as the reality of it all suddenly hit Naruto. A quiet sob escaped the redhead's lips, but he quickly bit his cheek and looked skyward.

He couldn't afford to breakdown now. The mission was more important at the moment, so once they arrived at Naruto's room, he took a few deep breaths before grabbing his backpack and packing a few changes of clothes. He also grabbed some extra kunai and shuriken, as well as necessary field medical supplies, each thing sealed into a separate small scroll that he slid into place inside his poncho's inner pockets.

Naruto slowly trudged back through the house and found Hokage-jiji standing on the front patio, his hands held behind his back as he stared out at the vast field of sakura trees that swayed softly in the wind. "Thanks Hokage-jiji, I—"

"Say no more Naruto-kun," Hiruzen replied, his eyes still focused ahead before he looked down with a curious smile. "There's no need to thank me. By the way, don't you have a mission to get to?"

Naruto's eyes widened before he quickly shot off the patio and hurried in the direction of the main gate. "Thanks again Hokage-jiji!"

Hiruzen chuckled softly as the redhead slowly disappeared into the horizon. "Say no more Naruto-kun... there really is no need to thank me."

XxX

As soon as Naruto was able, he took to the rooftops to make his short journey to the gate that much shorter. Seeing that the hospital was on the way there, he decided to make one quick stop to check on Kushina before carrying on to his original destination. It didn't take him longer than a couple minutes before he reached the gates, and he was surprised to only find Minato standing at the entrance to the village. He was sure it was just about time to depart according to the time given to them by their sensei. "Hey Minato, how long have you been waiting here? I was sure I was going to be the last one to show up."

The spiky-haired blonde shrugged his shoulders while giving his redheaded teammate a small smile. "I'm not too surprised about Jiraiya-sensei, he's usually the last of us to arrive. Yin's usually first though, so I just hope nothing bad has happened."

Naruto nodded his head and set his backpack down beside Minato's, plopping down onto the small patch of grass as they waited for their sensei and final teammate. Naruto grabbed his backpack and began rummaging through its contents before pulling out his ink and brush along with a special strip of pre-cut sealing paper.

Naruto had been drawing up his own exploding tags and variations thereof recently, and he'd been meaning to finish up a few more before the mission, but his unexpected delay at Mito-baa's house had cost him some precious time. Nevertheless, he had an opportunity now to carry on, so that's what he was going to do.

Minato's interest was immediately piqued as he eyed his redheaded teammate retrieve his fūinjutsu utensils, moving over from his spot on the other side of the bags to come sit beside Naruto, watching his teammate with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

Ever since the first time Minato had seen his teammate show knowledge in the art of fūinjutsu, he'd been completely absorbed in the subject. The blonde had always held a healthy respect for the art and was dying to become more knowledgeable in it, but as a young Academy student, the resources weren't readily available to him. Having Naruto on his team made things infinitely easier for him, and just being able to watch the redhead work was awe-inspiring.

Naruto glanced out the corner of his eye to find Minato's mouth practically watering as the blonde's eyes remained transfixed on what Naruto was doing, and Naruto couldn't help but chuckle softly, grabbing another piece of paper and a second brush and offering them to Minato. "Here, you want me to show you how it's done?"

Minato's eyes bugged out of his skull, and he couldn't agree fast enough. "That'd be great Naruto!"

Naruto made sure he was ready before dipping his brush in the ink and beginning with the seal, watching as Minato copied him as best he could. The blonde's calligraphy skills were very good, and his status as a genius made him a quick study. His first attempt at following Naruto's lead wasn't successful, and Naruto hurriedly disposed of the faulty seal before it could potentially cause a fatal accident. Minato's second try though was near spot on, and Naruto was extremely impressed. 'I must be some teacher,' Naruto thought with a cheeky grin.

The exploding tag itself was essentially the same as an average exploding tag, though there were minor differences, notwithstanding the fact that Naruto's version of the seal was centred around a spiral like all his other seals. The blast was much more focused with Naruto's version, and the explosion itself tended to be a lot bigger than your standard exploding tag. Such was the case though when you compared an exploding tag of an Uzumaki to a run-of-the-mill mass-produced standard-issue counterpart usually sold at shinobi stores.

So engrossed within their sealing were they, that they didn't even notice their white-haired sensei arrive at the gate, the man hovering above the two genin and watching them work for a while, a thoughtful yet impressed hum escaping his lips. "Very nice gaki, I must say I'm impressed. I knew being an Uzumaki you would undoubtedly have some fūinjutsu knowledge, but I gotta say, that exploding tag is above and beyond any I've ever seen before."

Naruto grinned under the praise, handing his finished tag up to his sensei to examine a little closer. "Thanks Jiraiya-sensei! I modified that one a little from the standard issue tags we use at Uzushio, so I can't take all the credit."

Jiraiya noted every line and swirl that adorned the sealing paper, taking mental notes of the tag for future reference. "It's always a treat watching an Uzumaki go to town on a piece of sealing paper. Some of the things members in your clan come up with is beyond anything I'm capable of."

"Do you know the art of fūinjutsu Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked, his eyes still on the paper below as his fingers continued trying to trace the exploding tag seal from memory.

The white-haired man stuck his hand out and waved it side to side, indicating his level of knowledge on the subject. "I suppose I know my fair share, though I don't think you could really classify it in the same group as Uzumaki style fūinjutsu." Jiraiya handed the tag back down to Naruto before looking back into the village, their pale blue-haired teammate finally making her way to the gate. "All right you two, pack your things back up, Yin's here so we're gonna head on out!"

The final member of Team 8 to arrive drew a few quick breaths as she skidded to a stop at the gates. "Sorry I'm late Jiraiya-sensei! My brother Dan was being a little paranoid and made me triple-check my pack just to make sure I didn't forget anything!"

Jiraiya's lips twisted sourly at the mention of Yin's brother's name, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared and he waved her off. "No worries, it's better to be safe than sorry. I already picked up our package from the Hokage, so let's get this show on the road. What do you say?"

The rhetorical question went unanswered as each genin strapped up and began their trek to Kusa no Kuni, Jiraiya taking up their flank as the three genin walked side by side. Their first C-rank mission was finally in motion!

* * *

 _Elsewhere that night, Taki no Kuni and Hi no Kuni border town..._

* * *

Two figures sat perched in a tree with a third standing a little off to the side, their dark coloured outfits offering them a considerable amount of cover under the fall of night. Though they'd managed to give their pursuers the slip months ago, so it was unlikely that they really needed the concealment. That was besides the point however.

"I've recently come into some information that could lead to an early payday for us my younger brothers," the figure standing off to the side spoke up, the three purple fang-like markings on his face appearing a dull brown under the dim light of the moon.

"Given our current financial situation I'd say it's just in the nick of time then too," one of the seated silhouettes spoke up, his yellow eyes sparkling softly in the moon light. "What's the score?"

The standing figure turned his head to the two seated to his right, pulling out a kunai and twirling it lazily between his fingers. "Nothing that's going to leave us with more money than we'll know what to do with, but enough to give us a little starting capital to fund a more... profitable business venture sometime in the future."

The last member to speak was seated in the middle of the first two speakers, his silhouette noticeably larger and burlier than the first two as he punched a fist into his open palm. "Nobody's been able to match up to our power since we deserted the village, so this should be easy money big brother!"

The man standing off to the side smirked devilishly, slowly lowering himself to the branch and taking a seat himself. "Oh I have no doubt about that my brother. I have no doubt at all."

* * *

 _ **Okay guys, that's a wrap for this chapter! This should be the end of all the angsty sad stuff, there might be a small funeral scene later on, but I'm still deciding on that. Next chapter sees Team Jiraiya heading to Kusagakure in Kusa no Kuni (The land where Kusagakure is located doesn't officially have a name, so I'm just settling on Kusa no Kuni - check out the map I use in the link in my profile if the links are working again, FFNet was having problems with them recently). But it seems that as usual, a C-rank doesn't usually stay a C-rank. We'll have to see what awaits our team of shinobi!**_

 _ **Any ways, I said previous chapter that I would explain Mito's seal that she used, or at least how I interpreted it. So this story is still set quite far back, so I feel it would make sense if someone like Mito were to have come up with the** Shishō Fūin (Four Symbols Seal). **The way I imagine it, is the Four Symbols Seal is a seal that rotates in a clockwise direction, but only in one direction. In this case, the seal is only allowed to be tightened further and not loosened, as was the case with Naruto's Eight Symbols Seal which had two Four Symbols Seal on top of each other. With two seals, I imagine it allowed for one to tighten the seal and the other to possibly loosen it, so that Naruto could gain access to the Nine Tail's chakra eventually.**_

 _ **With Kushina's seal though, Mito wanted to make sure that it stayed air-tight, unlike with Minato whose goal was to eventually have Naruto use the Nine Tail's power. So in that respect, Kushina's seal cannot be loosened, which is why there is only one Four Symbols Seal. People are still quite wary and not very knowledgeable on jinch**_ ** _ūriki during this time, so I can understand if they don't want their hosts to be able to utilise the chakra, but more to just restrain the bij_ _ū itself._**

 ** _But yeah, I hope I explained that even remotely well, if you don't understand my logic, I apologise, but I'm not too good at explaining things. My logic might not make much sense either, but that's just a theory that made some sense in my mind. If you guys have any of your own, I'd like to hear it to compare it with mine or correct my assumptions._**

 ** _Onto a few more things quickly. Just to answer a few recurring questions. Is Naruto Ashura's incarnation? To be completely honest with you, I have absolutely no idea at this point. I'll need to give it a bit of thought to figure things out, but I'll try and get back to everybody on this as soon as I possibly can, so bear with me. Also, with regards to pairings, someone mentioned that there are so many possibilities for Naruto within Konoha that I should be able to find someone, and I think I have, though I'm not gonna say more because it will spoil things. Another thing... someone said I was already pairing off Naruto with his teammate... just to clear things up, they are 10 years old. If I remember correctly, at 10, as a boy, I didn't really think of girls as anything other than friends. Girls on the other hand mature a lot faster than boys and already start developing crushes and those sorts of things around that age, though that's a bit of speculation on my part. For future, romantic feelings won't really start pooping up until at least around 13-14 years of age when boys actually start noticing the changes in girls and their hormones are raging through their bodies. I rest my case._**

 ** _Thanks again for your support guys, will get the next chapter up as soon as I am able to. Enjoy the rest of your Thursday!_**

 ** _ShadowedNara_**


	9. Routine C-rank Almost I

_**What's up guys, here's the next chapter, which is a little longer because I took so long to update and felt bad... it's not monstrously longer but, yeah, enjoy it I guess!**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 8_**

 _Routine C-rank... Almost I_

* * *

"Apologies for my curiosity Jiraiya-sensei, but what's in the package exactly?" questioned Minato, his question drawing the eyes and ears of the other two members of his team. It had been gnawing at the blonde for the better part of three hours now since they'd left the village, and he couldn't keep his curiosity down any longer.

Jiraiya let a small grin slip on his face, glancing down at the package that was secured to his side. "I'm impressed. You guys managed to hold out for three whole hours before your curiosity just couldn't take it anymore."

Naruto stuck up his hand innocently, his attention only half of on Jiraiya-sensei while the other half was focused on the surrounding trees. "To be fair sensei, I don't really care what's in the package." He was more interested in the new territory that they were traversing. Or new territory for Naruto at least. He wasn't indigenous to Hi no Kuni, so this was all very interesting to him. "I could've held out for hours still."

Jiraiya snorted dryly, though the clearing of Yin's throat drew his attention, her expression more than a little inquisitive. "So uh, Jiraiya-sensei, what _is_ in the package exactly?"

Jiraiya let that small grin slip on his face once again, though he gave the package strapped to his side a few gentle pats. "This my cute little students is a medical care package that is sent to certain allies every month, as worked out per the alliance. Everything included inside however is completely and exclusively developed in Konoha. And with Konoha being one of the foremost leaders in medical research and medicinal development, this little goodie bag is invaluable."

There was quite a proud tint to his voice, and Yin immediately picked up on it. "You sound quite chuffed about it sensei."

Jiraiya let out a small indignant snort, making a point of looking at them incredulously. "Well of course I am! My former team mate Tsunade-hime heads up the medical department of the village! At the very least I should think we've got the best damn medical department in the Elemental Nations!"

Yin giggled softly, her eyes glinting mischievously. "Sounds like you're in love Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya face faulted at that, his eyes dazed for a second before he righted himself and glared weakly in her direction. "Cute, but it's not like that. She's just my former team mate, that's all."

"Sounds to me like she's the one that got away," Naruto piped up while holding out his pinkie, wagging his eyebrows suggestively while fighting to keep from bursting out into laughter.

Their white-haired sensei growled softly before sighing in defeat. "Yeah, something like that. Just... just drop it for now. We're gonna need to pick up the pace a bit if we wanna make our first waypoint, so hustle up, and keep the chatter to a minimum."

All three genin immediately dropped their smiles and nodded seriously, increasing their pace as much as was necessary. The sooner they made it to their waypoint, the sooner they could bug their sensei about his love life again.

* * *

 _Three days later, Kusa no Kuni border..._

* * *

"For the last time Naruto, no you cannot open up the package to see what's inside," drawled Jiraiya, shaking his head and massaging his temples firmly. "Seriously, can't you take a hint gaki? I told you, it's been sealed by the Hokage, and if Kusa sees that the package has been tampered with when we arrive, it could cause some unnecessary problems for us and Konoha."

Naruto crossed his arms and huffed childishly. The interest the surrounding forest held had soon worn off as their journey progressed, and Naruto's curiosity had slowly been drawn back to the package strapped at their sensei's side which held _invaluable_ medical supplies. Every fibre of Naruto's being was screaming in childish glee to rip open that package and see what kind of goodies were packed within, though he was refused each time by Jiraiya-sensei.

He realised though that this was a mission and there was no way in hell such a thing would ever come to pass where he'd be allowed to examine the contents of the package. But more than anything he enjoyed pissing off Jiraiya-sensei with his constant nagging, so either way, it was win-win for Naruto. "You're no fun Jiraiya-sensei."

"Is that so huh?" questioned the man challengingly, a smirk soon finding its way onto his face. "How about I tie you up and dangle you from a tree the next time we've got a baby-sitting D-rank, and let the little munchkins take shots at you like a piñata? That sounds like tons of fun, don't you think?"

"I've got a sneaky suspicion that you were bottle fed as a child," the redhead muttered with a faux seriousness and a raised eyebrow, holding his chin in his hands mockingly. "It would explain a lot with regards to your intelligence."

Jiraiya sped up his pace enough to catch up with Naruto and rapped him softly upside the head, falling back a couple steps to get back into position. "And what could that possibly have to do with anything? Besides, being bottle fed is no different from being breast fed." A lecherous grin suddenly popped up on his face. "Well, besides the breast part of course."

"Actually," Naruto interjected, a smug grin on his face. "... there are more nutrients contained in breast milk, and they're more easily digested and absorbed. Your confusion is understandable though, you _were_ bottle fed."

Jiraiya glared at the redhead as a small growl escaped his lips. His mouth opened to attempt a retort, though it died on his throat as a glint of light caught his eye from above, prompting the man's eyes to widen in alarm. "All of you scatter!"

The three genin wasted no time heeding their sensei's words, the white-haired man himself doing just as he'd instructed too. And just in the nick of time, as not a second later did a concentrated beam of energy rain down from above and strike the position where they all would've been had they not executed evasive manoeuvres, leaving a massive explosion in its wake.

Dust and dirt were kicked up into the air in the aftermath, and the immediate countryside shook with the force of the explosion, nearby birds and animals fleeing the area with their cries of panic. As the dust slowly began to settle, Jiraiya peered through the haze with a sense of urgency, breathing out a small sigh of relief as he saw his three students grouped together on the far side of the field they found themselves in. 'At least they had the presence of mind to stick together.' He frowned inwardly though as his thoughts then turned to the sudden attack. 'That was no ordinary explosion. Whoever our enemy is, this isn't gonna be a simple walk in the park.'

As a small gust of wind cleared the remaining dust from the air as a humour-filled chuckle echoed about the area, and Jiraiya found a trio of shinobi standing in the centre of the field, directly between him and his students. "You've arrived right on schedule. If it's not too much trouble, we'll be taking the package hanging around your shoulder now."

The trio of shinobi were mostly indistinguishable by Jiraiya, though as the remaining dust was cleared and he got a good look at their faces, their identities were clear to him. The shinobi in the centre had long brown hair with three purple fang-shaped markings on his face. He wore a purple vest-like shirt with a red collar and a blue under shirt, and a pair of grey pants and dark blue shinobi sandals. The smaller thinner one had cheek length purple hair with two light blue teardrop markings on his cheeks and a triangular marking on his chin. He wore a dark blue sleeveless shirt with fingerless arm warmers and light grey baggy pants, as well as a pair of blue sandals.

The final member and larger one had two dark red stripes on each side of his face with black shoulder-length hair, two longer pieces of hair framing his face. He wore a dark blue sleeveless t-shirt with dark blue arm warmers and light grey pants, a pair of dark blue sandals finishing off his look. They were new entries in the most recent update of the bingo book, nuke-nin hailing from up north Kumogakure. "Well well, it seems you know a little something about what's in this package I'm carrying. Mind if I ask how you came about such information?"

The tallest of the trio who stood at the centre snorted derisively, his arms folded in front of him as he looked upon Jiraiya arrogantly. "Please, during peace times such as these, the villages become complacent, none so much as the five great villages. Your monthly delivery schedules weren't difficult to decipher, what with the routine deliveries taking place the _same_ time each month."

The smaller and thinner shinobi of the trio laughed condescendingly as he gazed at Jiraiya while keeping a watchful eye on the three children behind him. "Pathetic really, but nothing we wouldn't expect from a bunch of tree huggers such as yourselves."

The centre man unfolded his arms and glared at the white-haired man. "I'll ask one more time for you to hand over the package, and I'll consider allowing you and your three brats to leave. A nameless, faceless shinobi such as yourself isn't even worth my time."

Jiraiya cracked a grin at that and chuckled, fastening the strap over his shoulder. "If I'm as nameless and faceless as you think, then you should have no problem coming to take it yourself."

The centre shinobi scowled briefly before a predatory smirk replaced it. "Jiga, Ruiga; kill the brats any you want, but leave the white-haired oaf to me."

"With pleasure brother," the larger more rotund shinobi Jiga answered, pulling out a customised kusarigama that was fitted with a mace at the end. He began spinning the mace with great speed before firing it off at the three kids, splitting Naruto and Yin from Minato as they evaded the strike. "Ruiga, you take the redhead and the girl so long. I've always hated blondes, so leave the other runt to me," Jiga shouted as he dashed after Minato, swinging his sickle haphazardly.

Ruiga smirked at the remaining two kids and pulled out a pair of tonfa, twirling them menacingly before holding them in a combat position. "This will be mere child's play."

XxX

Jiraiya stood confidently across from the remaining member of the trio of shinobi, mentally bringing up the bingo book entry of the man in front of him. "So Renga of the fearsome Janin, I'm afraid to rain on your parade but you and your brothers really lucked out today when you got me and my team as your opponents. You'll find we don't go down easy."

The now-named Renga narrowed his eyes and slowly withdrew the sword from his hip, holding it by the sheath and pointing it warningly at the white-haired man across from him. "You would do well not to underestimate us. Although my brothers are not nearly as strong as I am, they are more than capable of holding their own."

Jiraiya made to retort, though Renga quickly dashed at him and took an overhead swing, prompting Jiraiya to hurriedly bring up a kunai to block the attack. The grin on Jiraiya's face quickly brought way to confusion as he realised he'd blocked the sheath instead of the blade. The smirk on his opponents face made Jiraiya's eyes widen in alarm as a second swing came from his left, this time the actual blade of the sword.

Jiraiya was hard pressed to block as he only barely managed to bring a second kunai up in time to prevent a possible bisection, though Renga used this moment of confusion to send a foot into the white-haired man's stomach, the satisfying sound of Jiraiya's 'oof' bringing a smug grin to Renga's face as he launched his opponent across the field. "Like I said before, you would do well not to underestimate me."

Jiraiya managed to right himself as he rolled back onto his feet and landed in a crouch, his eyes narrowing at the strange and extremely unorthodox style of kenjutsu, watching as Renga held the blade in his right hand while the sheath was held in a reverse grip in his left. He could honestly say that he'd never seen or faced anything like it in his tenure as a shinobi, and he had to begrudgingly admit that he may have entered this fight with a bit of a swollen head.

He clicked his teeth in annoyance before rising to his feet and putting a more subdued grin on his face, getting into the taijutsu stance he learnt while in Mount Myōboku. "Okay big guy, you've got my attention."

Renga rolled his eyes in annoyance at that. "Big guy? We're exactly the same height—"

"It's not the same. It really isn't," Jiraiya added quickly, shaking his head vehemently. "I'm a handsome kinda tall, you're the kinda tall that gets people to stop what they're doing and stare as you walk past."

Renga's eyebrow twitched in anger, though he let out a slow breath before lowering himself into a ready stance as well. "I'm getting a little tired of your banter, so I'm just going to finish things up here quickly so that I may join my brothers and we may be on our way. Hopefully one of those brats of yours manage to off at least one of my brothers... having to split the profits of that care package in half as opposed to thirds will be much more desirable."

Jiraiya frowned heavily at the man's casual dismissal of his brothers and his wishes of death for them before becoming serious. "They'll do more than off just one of your brothers. Your brothers will make the mistake of underestimating my students just as I did originally with you, only I can assure you my genin will be the ones to come out on top."

* * *

 _With Naruto and Yin..._

* * *

After Naruto and Yin had been separated from Minato, they were quickly forced to begin backpedalling and pushed on the defensive as the man named Ruiga began assaulting them with his tonfa.

Naruto noticed they were making their way into another small clearing and decided they'd been running long enough. "Hey Yin, I think it's about time we stop running. What do you think?" he asked with a small grin.

The pale blue-haired girl grinned predatorily, withdrawing her chokutō and holding it in front of her in a ready stance. "I couldn't agree more Naruto."

Ruiga landed in the clearing and quickly held his ground, smirking at the duo. "Finally decided to stop running huh? I'm glad, it'll make my job that much easier now that I don't have to waste time chasing you around!" The man quickly lunged at Yin, the tonfa in his right hand coming up to block a diagonal swing of the girl's sword before he twirled the tonfa in his left around at her exposed side. He was however quickly forced to pull back on his attack and instead block a kick that was aimed for his midsection from the redhead.

Naruto dropped to the ground after his initial attack and used the momentum to throw his leg out in a low sweep, hoping to catch the man unawares and give Yin an opening. Ruiga jumped over the attempted attack though and quickly back flipped over Yin in the same motion, blocking another swing of her sword with his right before quickly drop kicking the girl into the redhead.

Ruiga grinned victoriously as the two quickly got back to their feet. "You two half pints aren't half bad, but I'm afraid play time is over. It's time we finish this thing. Don't want to keep big brother Renga waiting after all!"

He quickly holstered his tonfa back in their designated pouches on his back before going through hand seals and ending on the Tiger seal. " _Suiton: Suiten Hōfutsu_ _ **(Water Release: Water-Heavens Convergence)**_!"

Globules of water suddenly began rising up from the ground all around the area before the man suddenly raised his hands in their direction. "Now die for me!"

The water quickly converged on Yin's form before she was completely enveloped, a ball of water surrounding her form as she lost the ability to breathe. Naruto's eyes widened as his teammate began spurting bubbles, Yin having accidentally swallowed a significant amount of water from the initial surprise of the attack. "Yin! Hold on!"

She didn't look like she could hear him, and Naruto wasn't all that surprised given that she was surrounded by water. But he needed to think fast. He had a plan, he just hoped he had the chakra control to pull it off, otherwise he could end up doing a whole lot of damage to his teammate in the process. Focusing his chakra, Naruto slowly and deliberately ran through the three hand seals needed, his hands stopping on the Ram seal. " _Suiton: Hahonryū_ _ **(Water Release: Tearing Torrent)**_!"

Naruto quickly began manipulating the water from the sphere enveloping Yin, redirecting it away from around his teammate before firing it off at the man on the other of the clearing in the form of a torrential wave with great difficulty, sweat dripping profusely from his brow. He wasn't a natural born suiton user, but you don't live in a village surrounded by water your entire life and not pick up a thing or two.

He wasn't too well trained in the element, which was why he had struggled so much with freeing his teammate. If he had manipulated the water wrong, he could have ended up sending Yin at Ruiga along with the wave of water, and there's no telling what kind of concussive damage that could've done to her. He thanked Kami for his medic-nin grade chakra control. Naruto let out shallow breaths as he stumbled over to Yin who landed on the ground with a grunt, coughing up the water that was housed in her lungs. "Yin! Are you okay?"

The girl coughed a few more times, a hand tapping her back soothingly as she rid herself of the remaining intrusive water. "Y-Yeah, I think I'll manage." She coughed a couple more times before getting back to her feet and pulling Naruto up with her, turning back to the cloud of drizzle ahead of them that was quickly clearing up. "Thanks for the help Naruto. I would've drowned if it wasn't for you."

Naruto grinned softly. "Don't mention it. I've got your back."

A soft chuckle echoed around the area as the residual drizzle of water evaporated into the air, a dome of water sitting protectively over their adversary. "Well would you look at that, you're a suiton user too. You don't seem all that proficient in it though, so it doesn't really matter. You're no match for my jutsu! So let's begin round two! _Suiton: Suiten Hōfutsu_ _ **(Water Release: Water-Heavens Convergence)**_!"

Another bubble of water coalesced into existence from the surrounding water particles that floated into the air, though this time the bubble was located right before Ruiga. The man quickly ran through a set of hand seals that Naruto recognised, having seen two men on separate occasions perform them. He quickly finished the seals and placed an outstretched hand on the bubble, a seal formula spreading out around his palm. " _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ _ **(Summoning Technique)**_!"

A school of deadly albeit small fish with razor sharp teeth appeared in the bubble, and Naruto and Yin couldn't help but notice the excited gleam in the man's eyes as he gazed somewhat fondly over the team of piranha. "It's been a while since I've fed my babies, and you'll more than make up for their lack in meals lately!"

* * *

 _With Minato..._

* * *

Minato continued jumping from side to side as swing after swing of the man's kusarigama came at him, the mace-like end of the weapon proving to be quite dangerous. It had bisected and fell more than a few trees already during Minato's evasive action, and he was doing a pretty good job so far of staying out of the weapon's immediate range. Though at this rate, Minato knew he wasn't going anywhere, and he needed to change things up.

Minato quickly withdrew two fistfuls of shuriken and released them with deadly accuracy and speed at his adversary, kicking up dust as he ran at the larger man with two kunai in hand to begin his assault. The larger man deflected each shuriken however by spinning his kusarigama protectively in front of him, knocking each shuriken to the ground.

Minato was then quickly forced to skid to a stop and roll to the side, executing several back flips as each of his shuriken were levitated off the ground and fired back at him with just as much speed as before. The blonde furrowed his brow in thought as the shuriken embedded in the rocky ground below once again levitated into the air and congregated behind Jiga, a smug smirk on the man's face. "So how do you like my _Jishaku Ninpō_ _ **(Magnet Ninja Art)**_?"

'Magnet ninja art?' Minato thought curiously, thinking back to when the man had blocked each of his shuriken with his kusarigama. 'So after making contact with his weapon, he was able to magnetise my own and use them against me. I wonder if it works both ways?'

Minato twirled two kunai in his hands lazily, his expression stoic. "Doesn't seem too impressive to me." He watched victoriously as his attempt to goad the larger worked. Jiga scowled fiercely before shooting the ninja stars off at him with great speed again, though this time Minato deflected them with his two kunai, quickly throwing one of the kunai at the man as soon as the danger of the shuriken was abated. Just as he was hoping, the kunai came nowhere near the man himself, but was instead pulled towards the kusarigama, sticking to the mace-like end with a dull clang.

Jiga chuckled deeply as the blonde kid's attack failed, hitting his stomach in what Minato thought was uncontrollable glee as the kunai fell to the ground. "Haha, your attacks are useless! With my jutsu there's no way any of your pathetic attempts to skewer me will prove fruitful!"

Minato discretely attached a paper bomb around the handle of his remaining kunai before flinging it at the man once again, watching with new found confusion as it continued on its intended course right for the man's head, Jiga ducking out of the way of the kunai as it almost ran him through the skull. "Whoa there, that was a close one! You've got some fire in you... I like that!"

Minato's mind ran rampant as he pondered the man's jutsu and the odd phenomenon that had just occurred. 'I was positive that my kunai would've been attracted to his weapon. Did I miss something?' Without having anything more concrete to think on, Minato decided a little engagement was needed to gather some more information so he could possibly pick apart the man's jutsu and defeat him.

That in mind, Minato channelled chakra to his legs and shot off at great speed, rounding on the man and engaging him in taijutsu. The man pre-empted his initial attack and tried warding him off with a swing of his sickle blade attached to his kusarigama, though Minato easily dodged the strike and pounced on the opening in the man's defences, sending an uppercut into his chin and roundhouse kicking him in his stomach.

Jiga was pretty heavy though and barely budged an inch, and the large man's free hand came up and grabbed Minato by his forehead, forcefully throwing the boy off of him with a smirk. "You're gonna have to hit a little harder than that kid. I didn't even feel a thing!"

Minato frowned and flexed his hand experimentally, glancing at the large man. 'He's strong, not as strong as Jiraiya-sensei, but it still felt like I was punching a brick wall. Those attacks didn't even faze him.' He was put back on alert as the man began swinging his kusarigama again before launching it at Minato.

The blonde dodged just as before, easily getting out of the way of the weapon before his instincts screamed at him to dodge again, prompting him to roll to the side. He watched with morbid fascination as the mace-like end of the weapon once again changed direction and homed in on him like a missile, and his eyes widened in recognition as he remembered the man shoving him away while grabbing his forehead. 'My hitai-ate! He magnetised it! This is my chance.'

Minato quickly dodged again and removed his headband, discretely placing his second to last exploding tag on the material of his hitai-ate before throwing it at the mace-like weapon. Without a target to home in on, Jiga was forced to retract his weapon and hold it lazily in his hands. "So you noticed did you? I'll admit you're pretty sharp kid, but my jutsu is still more than enough to finish the job!"

Minato brought his hand into the Ram seal while mentally apologising to his hitai-ate. He didn't think it would survive what happened next. "Explode!"

Jiga went up in a massive explosion, dust and debris from the surrounding rocky ground being flung in all directions. Minato covered his eyes and got down low in a crouch, finding his earlier discarded kunai sans exploding tag on the ground and grabbing it. He looked at it curiously as he noticed flecks of black dust coating the blade, and upon closer inspection determined that it was some kind of iron sand. 'I wonder...'

He didn't have long to ponder though as the dust began to settle, revealing Jiga's lower half of his body, the upper half concealed behind a slab of rock. The large man slowly moved the rock away from his face to show that he was holding it by his forearm almost like one would a shield. The lower half of his body was singed quite badly, his clothes burnt quite profusely with red burns covering his legs. His upper body was completely unharmed, though his face was covered in sweat, his scowl and glare directed at the blonde boy. "You fucking brat! That hurt!"

Minato said nothing as he observed the larger man, Jiga quickly tapping his stomach once again, allowing the boulder attached to his forearm dropping to the ground with a thud. Minato observed the action with curiosity, and his eyes homed in on the black particles that dropped to the ground from his stomach. 'So the iron sand is attracted to him just like his weapon. It seems his entire body is magnetically charged and not his weapon like I originally thought. And he periodically dusts his stomach off to prevent himself from becoming a magnet. I may have an idea, but—'

Minato was immediately put on guard as the man suddenly pulled his hands up into the Ram seal while still holding onto his weapon, his face contorted with rage. "I'm done playing around with you! It's time to put you out of your misery you fucking brat! _Jishaku Ninpō: Denji Genmu_ _ **(Magnet Ninja Art: Electromagnetic Vision)**_!"

Iron sand suddenly began rising up from the rocky ground all around Minato, and his heart began to race at the possible implications. A spark of electricity between the specks of black immediately had him on guard, and he prepared to get as far away from the jutsu as he could, though he found he couldn't move his body. His vision became fuzzy and blurry, and a deafening silence settled over him. He couldn't even hear his thoughts, and his heart raced as panic began to settle in.

Suddenly though he felt his vision and hearing come back to him with a dull ringing in his ears, and his mind was once again working as it was supposed to. His body could move, though at the same time it couldn't, because he was being bound and constricted by the chain of Jiga's kusarigama. He struggled to breathe as the chain continued to coil around him tightly, and his body was in agonising pain as he was continually crushed by the chain. He cried out in white hot pain, a blood curdling scream escaping his lips as he coughed up blood from the list of internal injuries he was no doubt accumulating from the pressure being exerted on his body.

Jiga laughed maniacally at the obvious pain the blonde was in, and he continued sending chakra through his weapon, watching as it further coiled around the blonde as it got tighter and tighter. "Haha, feel the wrath of my jutsu! My ability is second to none, and there's nothing you can do to prevent your death here today! I had fun kid, truly I did. But it's time for you to die now!"

Minato squeezed his eyes shut in pain, barely able to move any parts of his body anymore. 'I-It seems I'll only have one more opportunity to beat this guy. Now is as good a time as ever to see if my theory was correct...' Using all the strength he had left, Minato wriggled his hands together and slowly managed to form a single hand seal in his constriction, his hands settling in the Dragon seal as his voice wheezed out the name of the jutsu. " _Raiton: Denkō Noroshi_ _ **(Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Flare)**_..."

Minato quickly did his best to grab onto the metal chain, but it seemed to be enough. A large electrical discharge of lightning flew from his body and into the chain, travelling through the metal and straight into the body of Jiga who was connected to the other end of the weapon. The large man convulsed horribly as he was peppered with a massive charge of electricity, and the chain around Minato immediately went slack as Jiga lost the concentration to keep the jutsu going, his body letting off a few wisps of steam as the stench of charred flesh filled the immediate area.

Minato fell to the ground in a groaning heap, his body in complete agony as he struggled to get back to his feet, settling in a shaky crouch as dull coughs escaped from his throat. A crouch seemed to be the best he could do at the moment though, so he watched from there as his opponent slowly got back to his own feet. His body jerked and spasmed involuntarily every couple seconds, and Minato couldn't help the satisfactory grin that slipped onto his face. 'Payback can be a real bitch, heh...'

Jiga slowly managed to get his feet under him, his fists and muscles clenching uncontrollably as the electrical charge slowly dissipated from his body. "D-Damn you, you l-little shit," he muttered weakly, sending a heated glare at the blonde as his teeth forcefully chattered. "I-I'm gonna make you p-pay for this with your life, you can count on it—"

His voice was quickly halted as the residual black particles all over the area began flocking to him like bees to a hive, the scattered shuriken and kunai soon joining the iron sand as well. "W-Wha—what the fuck is happening to me?!"

"Y-You lose," Minato wheezed softly, his voice just loud enough for the rotund man to hear. The man's confused and panicked eyes turned to Minato, and the blonde couldn't help but watch as Jiga was slowly enveloped in the iron sand. "I noticed how you turned off your jutsu by periodically patting your stomach to get rid of the collective iron sand. It made me realise that your entire body was actually magnetised as opposed to just your weapon, so you had to switch off the magnetism somehow, or risk turning into a magnet yourself. With that being the case, I figured if I disrupted the chakra in your body, I could help speed up the process a bit, and what better way than to fry your body than with a discharge of electricity."

The man's eyes widened, and he attempted futilely to dust the congregating iron sand off to no avail. "Y-You managed to break down my entire jutsu in this short amount of time?! But you're just a fucking brat! I refuse to be beaten by a snot-nosed kid!"

Minato frowned at the man. "You were too overconfident in your abilities and ran your mouth at every opportunity. You were your own worst enemy, and you led yourself to defeat."

With that, Minato turned around and slowly trudged his way out of the area, his novice sensing skills directing him in the direction he was sure his other two teammates were. 'I better try and hurry up and see if they need any help. If my opponent was this strong, they definitely won't be having an easy time of beating him.'

* * *

 _ **Okay guys, the first part to this little section of the story, where we've got a little bit of action-packed fighting! Yeah, salute with me! Ahem, any ways, I did my best with the fight scenes so far, let me know what you think of them, I've always had a little trouble with fight scenes, so any constructive critique is gladly welcomed!**_

 _ **For any who watch the anime, you should know where and who these foes they are fighting against are. They're not supposed to be appearing this early in reference to the canon timeline, but I decided it would be fine to use them for this part of the story. I also had them as nuke-nin from Kumo, because it never says originally where they're from I think. I may be wrong, but if I am, let me know and I can correct my mistake.**_

 _ **I read over this chapter quite quickly, so if there are any errors I apologise, I tried my best to beta it to the best of my abilities! Was also watching a few comedies this weekend, so I let those inspire me for certain parts of this chapter, kudos to those who are able to figure out from where!**_

 _ **But yeah, that's the first part, the next chapter will be part two and will conclude the fighting as well as possibly the mission, and then after that I think I may be having a time-skip a couple years into the future, so I hope you guys are all okay with that. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts and any suggestions. I'm sorry I've been a bit lazy in answering reviews for a while, I've just been quite busy, which should be evidenced by how long it took for this next chapter to be posted. Just know that I do read all your reviews, and they do help me to kick my ass back into gear when I'm feeling particularly unmotivated, haha!**_

 _ **Any ways, that's all from my side, hope you guys enjoy your Sundays, I'll see you peeps when I see you! Till next time.**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


	10. Routine C-rank Almost II

_**Okay peeps, here is the next chapter, a little bit shorter, but I felt you guys would prefer to have a chapter come out rather than not, so here goes. Enjoy!**_

 **Disclaimer:** **All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

 **Just Following Orders by ShadowedNara**

XxX

 ** _Chapter 9_**

 _Routine C-rank... Almost II_

* * *

Naruto and Yin were once again forced onto the defensive as Ruiga had them being chased by a bubble of water that housed upwards of 20 piranhas, each with their minds firmly set on devouring some human flesh.

The two genin sprang from tree to tree, switching between jumping through the branches to sprinting along the ground, doing whatever they could to try shake their opponent. But Ruiga was following them, catching up even, and he was keeping his jutsu trained on the redhead and pale blue-haired girl. Naruto squinted his eyes through the foilage and found that they were coming up on a small dam, something that could prove useful despite the fact that their opponent was a suiton user, and a better one than Naruto at that. But the redhead still had one trick up his sleeve that he'd learned back in Uzushio, and damned if he didn't think it would do the job of finishing off their opponent.

"Hey Yin, I've got an idea," he muttered softly as they leapt to another tree, Naruto making sure that their pursuer couldn't catch wind of their plan. "If we can lure him out onto the water's surface, I think I might be able to finish this!"

Yin frowned thoughtfully before glancing back, watching as their opponent gained a few more metres on them. It wouldn't be long before they were caught. "Okay, when we land on the water, I'll get rid of the sushi chasing after us, then I'll leave Ruiga to you!"

Taking one last giant leap from a tree, Naruto and Yin landed on the surface of the water, rounding their bodies as fast as they could to face their opponent and his horde of piranha that were right on their tails.

Ruiga smirked from his position. He was now more than close enough to finish these two off. Time for his babies to get that meal they so rightly deserved. "Now you're mine! Rip the flesh from their bodies my beautiful piranha!"

The sphere of water housing the piranha neared the two genin and was seconds away from devouring them before Yin's voice filled the clearing. " _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu_ _ **(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**_!"

The fireball was a decent size, nothing compared to what more seasoned Uchiha could do at Yin's age, but impressive nonetheless, as it did its job of frying the sphere of water as it rocketed straight into the torrent of flames. A cloud of steam rose into the air as the flames boiled the water, the piranha being sent back to whence they came in the process.

The steam didn't dawdle for long, and before long the surface of the water was once again cleared for all to see. Ruiga's smirk dropped slightly as his pets were sent back to their home, internally reeling from these brats hurting like they did. Though his eyes widened as he spotted the redhead going through more hand seals. "What are you—"

" _Suiton: Daibakuryū no Jutsu_ _ **(Water Release: Great Waterfall Flow Technique)**_!" Naruto quickly grabbed Yin by her arm and dragged her away from the dam, landing back on the surrounding land as a massive whirlpool quickly began sucking Ruiga into the depths of the water. His hand was the last thing to be seen as the raging waters continued on, Naruto concentrating with his hands in the Ram seal. He waited another half a minute before releasing the jutsu, letting out a large breath and dropping to his knee. "Well that worked better than I expected…"

Yin grinned from her position and patted Naruto on the back, observing his work with an appreciative eye. "Nice one! I didn't know you could make a whirlpool! You never did that in training once!"

Naruto chuckled softly as he slowly got back to his feet, dusting his arms down. "Well it was a little something I was saving for an occasion such as this. I can't believe how well it turned out—"

It seemed the redhead had spoken to soon though, as no sooner had the words left his mouth, did another much larger sphere of water shoot out from the dam, though this time there was something a lot bigger residing within, Ruiga's head popping out the top of the sphere so he could breathe. The man himself was riding atop a massive shark, and before Naruto or Yin could react, he had smashed right through the both of them, the shark's rough skin peeling flesh from both genin at the points of impact.

"The piranhas from before aren't my only pets, though I do prefer them for a bit of a lighter touch," the man explained slowly, grinning from ear to ear as he floated above the dam in the sphere. "But you guys have forced my hand, and I had to bring out something a little bigger. An extra 50 teeth bigger to be precise!" Ruiga laughed maniacally as he passed the genin again, knocking both of them to the ground once more and removing another layer of skin from the knock.

Naruto's clothes were getting ripped to shreds, and Yin's arms were slowly starting to redden with blood. If they didn't do anything soon, it was no telling how long it would be before he just decided to stop playing around and have the shark eat them in one go. In a desperate attempt to do something, anything, Naruto ran through three quick hand seals before firing off another jutsu. " _Suiton: Hahonryū_ _ **(Water Release: Tearing Torrent)**_!"

The torrent of water raced at the sphere of water enshrouding the shark and Ruiga, and the widening of the man's smirk did nothing to alleviate Naruto's hopes. The torrent of water struck the sphere with all the force of a wave, though the water was merely absorbed into the sphere before being discharged from the back, ensuring that the sphere remained the same size.

Ruiga laughed loudly from his position, his eye glinting with arrogance. "That was a nice try, but it seems you're all out of tricks if you're resorting to using that again!"

"Don't count me out yet!" Yin shouted, running through hand seals herself before landing on the Tiger seal and exhaling sharply. " _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu_ _ **(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**_!"

The ball of fire once again raced towards the sphere of water, kicking up another massive cloud of steam. When it eventually dissipated, it revealed Ruiga on the ground in a crouch, his shark squirming on the ground as it looked for oxygen. Their opponent quickly summoned another sphere of water and enclosed it around the shark, glaring hatefully at the pale blue-haired girl as he once again hooped atop his large fish. "Tch, that's going to get annoying fast. I guess I'll have to deal with you first then."

The man directed his shark at the duo of genin and knocked Naruto to the ground again before running through hand seals again and finishing on the Tiger seal. " _Suiton: Suiten Hōfutsu_ _ **(Water Release: Water-Heavens Convergence)**_!" Globules of water quickly rose up from the ground once again, converging on Yin's position and covering her form in water just as before. Ruiga laughed in childish glee as he directed his shark at her. "This is it for your friend! She's nothing but shark bait now for my magnificent pet!"

Yin watched in horror as the shark approached her sphere of water, and her eyes found those of her distressed redheaded teammate who could do nothing but watch from his downed position. He would never make it here in time to help her, no matter how fast he was. She mouthed a quick 'I'm sorry' to her teammate before closing her eyes.

" _Raiton: Denkō Noroshi_ _ **(Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Flare)**_!" A bolt of lightning flashed into existence and struck the sphere of water that Ruiga was in along with his shark, the sphere lighting up in an array of colourful sparks of electricity as the lightning jumped around and electrocuted anything and everything within the sphere.

Ruiga's sphere of water eventually collapsed, the man himself not being able to hold the jutsu any longer as his body convulsed uncontrollably, visible jolts of electricity sparking through his body in the aftermath. The shark had long since dispelled and returned to its home, though Minato was sure that it was going to be dead on arrival.

That was of no consequence though, and he hurriedly rushed to Yin who dropped onto the ground in a puddle of water, taking in deep breaths of air. She'd been more prepared this time to not swallow any water, though she'd been under for a while, so she would've started swallowing water soon if it wasn't for Minato's intervention. She would've drowned, though the shark would've likely ripped into her before that point. She shuddered at the thought. 'I _really_ hate sharks…'

Minato gently patted her back as he knelt next to her, noticing the deep red gashes along her arms from her encounter with the shark. "Are you all right? Your arms look pretty bad. We should get you over to Naruto before it gets any worse."

The girl nodded her head in agreement, Minato gingerly helping her to her feet and directing them over to their redheaded teammate who had been restraining their target, who was evidently still alive, though he was very much unconscious. Naruto had used his chakra scalpels to sever the man's muscles in his legs and arms, as well as his fingers to make sure that when he woke up he wouldn't be trying anything funny.

As Minato and Yin settled beside the redhead, they were a little confused when he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and held his arms out to them. They noticed the bite marks that were running up and down along his exposed forearms. Naruto had to embarrassingly admit that once he'd found out what he could do, he hadn't had any ability in medical ninjutsu and had abused his ability quite thoroughly. He'd had no idea the bite marks would remain, but it was something he found out later with quite a shock.

It didn't matter though, they had to go find their sensei, and he had no time to heal them individually with medical ninjutsu. While his Heal Bite was more chakra intensive, it was at least three times faster than healing with medical ninjutsu, and he'd be able to heal both Minato and Yin at the same time like this. "Quickly, bite into my forearms, it will heal you quicker than I'd be able to using the _Shōsen Jutsu_ _ **(Mystical Palm Technique)**_ **.** "

They looked at him sceptically, though a nudge of his head at his arms defused all doubt and they both bit down as softly as they could on the redhead's forearms, immediately feeling the rush of healing chakra. Minato's and Yin's eyes widened respectively as their wounds literally fizzled away before their eyes. It was amazing.

It was replenishing their chakra reserves as well they noticed after a few seconds of biting down, though one look at their redheaded teammate told them that it was rather rapidly depleting his. His eyes were slowly drooping, and he looked to be blinking back unconsciousness. Naruto noticed their stares and smiled tiredly. "Don't worry about me guys… I just used up a lot of chakra in that fight… I'll be fine."

The redhead reached into his back pouch and as quickly as possible popped a soldier pill in his mouth, crunching down on the tablet and relishing in the restoration of chakra. It didn't restore all his chakra, not even half of it, but it would be enough to heal his teammates and keep him on his feet. Naruto gently tugged his arms away, watching as his teammates got the hint and stopped biting down.

Yin glanced at her arms and grinned in amazement, flexing her fist and feeling as if she hadn't just fought an entire battle. "Whoa, I feel incredible! Is this just because of your chakra?"

Naruto nodded absently, rolling his sleeves back down one by one. "Yeah, it's a healing ability I discovered while back in Uzushio. Pretty neat huh?"

There was a smile on Naruto's face, though it didn't reach Minato. The blonde's eyes lingered on his teammate's forearm, specifically where he himself had just bitten down, and watched as the bite mark, _his_ bite mark, quickly darkened in shade, joining the myriad of bite marks that were scattered all over the redhead's arms. It caused the blonde to frown, though he said nothing on the matter. For now at least. "We should go find Jiraiya-sensei and see if he needs any back-up, though I'm sure he should be dispatching of his opponent by now."

Yin nodded before glancing over her shoulder at their unconscious captive, jerking her thumb in his direction. "So what are we gonna do about him?"

Naruto got to his feet slowly before removing a scroll from the inside pocket of his poncho. "Just leave that to me." Pulling out the blank scroll, Naruto held it between his fingers before running through six hand seals, ending on the Boar seal and slamming the scroll onto the ground, unfurling it in the process. " _Uzumaki Fūin Shiki_ _ **(Uzumaki Sealing Style)**_!"

A line of kanji shot out from the scroll and encircled Ruiga's prone form, the seal spreading out in a circle around his body on the ground before flashing a brilliant white, dragging the man into the scroll and settling down onto the blank paper, the seal now clearly transcribed on it. Naruto pocketed the scroll and dusted his hands, grinning at his two teammates. "Well, let's go find Jiraiya-sensei."

Yin looked to Minato who seemed to be quite awe-struck at Naruto's use of fūinjutsu again, and she quickly snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Come on Minato, you can beg Naruto to teach you later. We still have a mission to complete."

That seemed to snap the blonde out of his reverie, and he nodded at her in thanks. "Let's go."

* * *

 _With Jiraiya…_

* * *

Jiraiya frowned across at the man standing off on the other side of the clearing, rubbing away the trickle of blood that dripped down the side out of his mouth. 'I don't know what that was, but he somehow managed to hit me with some kind of invisible force. And whatever it is, it's stopping my _Hari Jiz_ _ō_ _ **(Needle Jiz**_ _ **ō**_ ** _)_** from hitting him as well,' he thought absently, glancing at all the strands of hair turned needles lying about the clearing. However there were none directly around Renga himself, as if he had some kind of transparent barrier protecting him. 'Well, let's see how that barrier of his fairs against some heat!'

Jiraiya quickly summoned a shadow clone to his side, the pair of Jiraiya's hurriedly running through hand seals.

" _Gamayudan_ _ **(Toad Oil Bullet)**_!"

" _Katon: Ry_ _ū_ _ka no Jutsu_ _ **(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)**_!"

The clone-Jiraiya expelled out a long thin stream of toad oil from its mouth, while the original ignited it with the fire jutsu, combining to form something a lot more devastating than a typical fire jutsu. The flames ignited the highly flammable oil, and a crushing wave of heat pulsed out around the immediate clearing. Jiraiya didn't hold the jutsu for too long, and his shadow clone dispelled in a puff of smoke when it was no longer necessary.

When the small cloud of smoke dissipated from the area, it revealed a profusely sweating Renga standing with eyes slightly widened, though that quickly gave way to a fierce scowl as he huffed angrily. "How—how dare you?! That's it! No more pussy footing! I'll destroy this entire forest if I have to, I don't even care about that stupid package anymore! Now, it's personal."

Jiraiya watched curiously as the furious Janin formed multiple ice discs, though these were able to be seen by the naked eye, attributing to their actual density and size. 'What's he planning?' He found out soon enough as the ice discs quickly lined up one behind the other, each disc a little smaller and thicker than the one before it, almost like a lens. '... oh dear sweet Kami, did I manage to piss him off that much?'

The answer to Jiraiya's unasked question came in the form of a highly concentrated energy beam that shot down towards the earth. Though the attack itself missed his position by several metres, Jiraiya was still flung back from the ensuing shock wave and shaking of the explosion, dust and dirt being kicked up into the air in the wake of the attack.

When the dust cleared, Renga cackled madly as he noticed Jiraiya looking a little worse for wear, and began manipulating the discs again, looking to finish this. "I'll begrudgingly admit that it's not the most accurate, but it makes up for it with destructive power. And with the sun shining as high and brightly as it is today, I'm happy to report that there's a one-hundred percent chance of your death!"

Another concentrated beam of energy rocked the earth, setting several nearby trees and bushes on fire, and this beam happened to be a lot closer. Jiraiya collided with the trunk of a tree as he was yet again violently thrown away from the explosion, prompting him to massage his head softly. 'Fuck, well this is annoying. I can't exactly take the sun away from him to stop his jutsu...' Jiraiya's eyes widened as a sneaky grin spread across his face. 'But I can take him away from the sun.'

Jiraiya quickly created a shadow clone under the cover of the cloud of dust, sending it out towards the right to draw Renga's attention. Feeling the memories of the clone flood back to him a few seconds later, Jiraiya dashed out towards the left, right in Renga's blind spot. The man most likely still had his barrier up around him, so a frontal attack would be useless, but Jiraiya had something a little better in mind. Renga's eyes found Jiraiya just as the man was a few metres away from closing in on his position, but before the Kumo nuke-nin could react, Jiraiya's palm slammed against the ground as a massive seal array spread out from his palm, covering the ground beneath Jiraiya and Renga as well. " _Gyaku Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari_ _ **(Reverse Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind)**_!"

Both men were sucked into the seal array, and plunged into total darkness. Renga's eyes widened in fear, and he suddenly heard more than felt something slimy up against his hand. It made his stomach curdle, and his breathing quickened in pace as he began to panic. "Wha—what the fuck is going on?! Where am I?!"

A soft chuckle was heard throughout the darkness. "Allow me to explain," Jiraiya's voice cut in through the darkness, Renga's head whipping about frantically to pinpoint it while beginning to sink into whatever he was standing on. "I've summoned you into the oesophagus of the great fire-breathing toad from Mount Myōboku. I'm afraid to say that in a few minutes, you'll be ingested, living the rest of your measly life in the gastric acid of this toad while it digests you. I trust you'll have a great time."

Then everything went deathly silent, and Renga's efforts to escape were all for naught as his screams slowly died down to nothing, his body being enveloped within the inside of the oesophagus. With another hand seal, Jiraiya reverse summoned himself back to the clearing where he'd left from before, Renga no where in sight. "I guess it's for the best. Hopefully my genin are still in salvageable pieces."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Jiraiya-sensei," Yin drawled sarcastically, dropping down into the clearing with her other two teammates.

Jiraiya noticed that Yin and Minato looked completely fine, not even a scratch on them save for the state their clothes were in. They were ripped and torn in more places than one, and Minato was missing his hitai-ate. Naruto looked relatively fine as well, though he was swaying slightly on his feet, and Jiraiya took a swing in the dark to guess that the redhead had probably exhausted himself healing his teammates.

Naruto stepped forward then and handed Jiraiya a scroll, the man unfurling it to find two unique storage seals emblazoned on the paper. "Two nuke-nin, sealed and ready for your delivery sensei."

They'd made a quick detour to subdue Minato's opponent, who had been completely covered in iron sand. It was likely the man had suffered death from suffocation, as the iron sand was so tightly packed around his form.

Jiraiya nodded proudly with a grin on his face, though that quickly gave way to a frown as Naruto bucked forward, his eyes half-lidded. "I'm just gonna... rest my eyes for a bit sensei... 'ttebayo..."

Jiraiya chuckled as he pocketed the scroll, gently picking Naruto up and placing him over his shoulder. "You guys did a great job. I'm proud of you three. I'll tell you what. When we get back to Konoha, I'll take you guys out to eat, my treat."

Minato smiled genuinely, nodding his head at the white-haired man. "I like the sound of that sensei."

Jiraiya nodded before patting the package still strapped to his side. "What do you say we quickly go drop off this package and split huh? I've had enough of Kusa no Kuni for a while."

Yin giggled from her spot, adjusting her sword on her back before deciding to lead the way. "I couldn't agree more sensei. The sooner we get out of here the sooner we can eat you out of your wallet," she chirped cheerfully.

Jiraiya paled, though with both his genin there he knew he wouldn't be able to go back on what he'd said before. Minato grinned mischeivously from his spot beside Yin, his arms folded across his chest. "I'll be sure to let Naruto know first thing once he wakes up. I can only imagine how excited he'll be."

Jiraiya grumbled softly to himself as he followed his two not-so-cute-anymore genin. "You three are down right evil you know that?"

* * *

 _Back in Konoha, half a week later..._

* * *

"So, how's your team?" Naruto asked his cousin as he and Kushina sat in the kitchen of Mito-baa's home. "I haven't really had a chance to ask you since... everything that's happened."

Naruto had returned with his team from the Kusa mission a couple days ago, and by the time he got back Kushina was up and moving about as if nothing had ever happened to her. Naruto had been ecstatic to hear it, and he'd immediately used the money he received for his last mission to take her out for lunch.

Their supposed C-rank had been bumped up to an A-rank, and the pay had been bumped up accordingly. To top that off, the two bodies of the nuke-nin they managed to capture awarded them with a nice little bounty bonus, so Naruto was feeling slightly elated at the moment. Despite their rotten luck with their mission, things had taken a turn for the better, and he was currently feeling on top of the world.

Kushina slurped at the tea that was cradled in her hands, glancing off through a nearby window at the softly blowing sakura trees outside. "They're all right I guess. They're nothing special if that's what your asking, not like your team at least. Well, we are a squad with two females and one male, so I guess we're special in that regard." Kushina waved her hand about in a non-commital manner, shrugging her shoulders at the same time. "Akane is your typical girl, doesn't seem to care much for being a ninja, but she's not totally clueless. Daichi seems a little more enthusiastic about being a ninja, though his skills a sorely lacking. He wasn't one of the bottom ranked people from the Academy for nothing. As for Hinoko-sensei, well... she's a Hyūga in every sense of the word. She can be a little stuck up sometimes, but I think I'm finally managing to break through that hard external shell she's put up 'ttebane!"

Naruto chuckled at that, sipping at his own tea. "Yeah well, you always were the more destructive of us two, so I imagine you could break down any shell she's put up."

Kushina glared weakly at him, though didn't move to engage him with her fists. Even though she looked as normal as ever before the sealing, her body was still adjusting to the new chakra entity that was stuck in her belly, and her body ached something fierce. "You're so lucky I'm still incapacitated, otherwise I would've been over there knocking some sense into you."

Naruto chuckled again as he watched her from the other side of the table. "Don't I know it. That's why I'm using this opportunity while I still can." With that said, Naruto took one last sip of his tea before depositing it in the basin, walking back past Kushina and rapping her softly upside the head as he past her. "Well, look at the time, gotta run 'ttebayo! Team training and stuff you know!"

Kushina went white eyed after he knocked her in the head, and she held a fist up to him dangerously from her seated position. "I won't forget this Naruto! I hope you know that!" She stared into her cup after the sound of the front door closing echoed through the quiet house, swirling the remaining liquid inside a little. Her lips formed into a small soft smile though as she realised her idiotic cousin had succeeded in uplifting her mood. She'd been quite sullen that morning, and he must have noticed. "Idiot," she muttered weakly, her smile still in place.

* * *

 _ **Okay guys, so that wraps up the C-rank mission gone wrong for this part of the story, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope my fights were all right, so let me know what you guys thought!**_

 _ **Just a heads up, there's going to be a time-skip after this, after which there will be a pick up in the action. I have a serious question to ask you guys, one that I need you to answer, so here goes... I'm gonna give it its own line and everything:**_

 _ **After the time-skip, I need to hear from you guys if you'll be fine with me having them as chunin by that time, or if you want me to write up a chunin exams after the time skip. I feel it will be a bit redundant, though let me know your thoughts.**_

 _ **After the time-skip, things will be kicking into overdrive, because we'll have the anticipated kidnapping of Kushina (the reason I'm not having her kidnapped right now is because she was just sealed, I doubt anybody really knows that and it will take them a while to figure out. By the way, when Kishi says she was kidnapped for her special chakra, I'm going on the assumption that by that they meant biju chakra, i.e. she's a jinchuriki, that's why they wanted to kidnap her). In my mind, the kidnapping from Kumo was also something that sparked the beginning of the Second Shinobi War, which it says in canon was started by Konoha. I feel they would start a war with Kumo for them trying to steal a jinchuriki as a breach of the armistice they had after the First Shinobi War, so I hope that makes sense to you guys, let me know if you need me to explain it further.**_

 _ **Otherwise, that's a little sneak peek of what's to come a little later, so I hope that encourages you to carry on reading! Also, side note, I'm gonna be writing finals soon at Uni, which means no writing fanfiction because I need to focus on passing this year. Yipee, I'm so excited, can't you tell! But yeah, that being said, I have nothing left to say, so be gone.**_

 _ **P.S. Do you guys like your bacon drizzled with maple syrup?**_

 _ **ShadowedNara**_


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